■ma 


I&CHJLNG.. 


Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 
of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth 


A  THESIS 

Presented  to  the  Faculty  of  the  Graduate  School  of  the 

University  of  Pennsylvania  in  Partial  Fulfilment 

of  the  Requirements  for  the  Degree  of 

Doctor  of  Philosophy 


BY 
HARRIET  MANNING  BLAKE 


PRESS  OF 

Steinman  &  Foltz, 
lancaster,  pa. 


Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 
of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth 


A  THESIS 

Presented  to  the  Faculty  of  the  Graduate  School  of  the 

University  of  Pennsylvania  in  Partial  Fulfilment 

of  the  Requirements  for  the  Degree  of 

Doctor  of  Philosophy 


BY 

HARRIET  MANNING  BLAKE 


PRESS  OF 

STEINMAN   &   FOLTZ, 

LANCASTER,  PA. 


That  this  study  has  been  a  pleasure  is  due 
to  the  continual  encouragement  and  the 
generous  criticism  of  Professor  Felix  E. 
Schelling,  who  has  been  its  inspiration. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

Introduction 5 

I.     Plays  on  Classic  Subjects  before  1642 8 

II.    Classification 12 

III.    The  Rise  of  Opera,  and  Plays  with  Classic  Titles  between 

1642  and  1700 25 

IV.  The  Myth  of  (Enone  and  The  Arraignment  of  Paris    by 

George  Peele 39 

V.  The  Cupid  and  Psyche  Myth  and  Love's  Mistress  by  Thomas 

Heywood   49 

VI.    The  Myth  of  Phaeton  and  The  Sun's  Darling  by  Ford  and 

Dekker    61 

List  of  Plays 68 

Bibliography   73 

Index    79 


25349G 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

Microsoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/classicmythinpoeOOblakrich 


Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama  of  the 
Age  of  Elizabeth 


INTRODUCTION 

Long  after  medieval  times,  allegory  remained  in  England.  As 
the  delighted  reader  of  the  Faerie  Queene,  recognized  in  the 
Red  Cross  Knight,  a  loyal  subject  of  England's  Virgin  Queen, 
so  those  who  saw  the  court  plays  of  John  Lyly  found  the  same 
radiant  opportunity.  Here,  the  dazzling  heroes  of  old,  re-dis- 
covered in  the  new  heritage  of  Greek  and  Roman  story,  played 
parts  invested  with  an  added  interest,  for  they  "shadowed 
forth"  the  familiar  figures  of  the  court  of  Elizabeth.  In  the 
Endimion  and  the  Midas  of  Lyly,  classic  myth  appeared,  yet 
speaking  the  language  and  the  thoughts  of  the  audience  itself. 
This  kind  of  association  of  the  old  with  the  new  always  gives 
satisfaction,  while  classic  myth  lends  itself  to  the  spectacular, 
and  was  thus  an  eminently  fitting  theme  for  court  plays.  Lyly's 
influence  reached  down  through  the  entertainments  of  Daniel 
and  the  masques  of  Jonson,  while  classic  myth  always  remained 
a  favorite  subject.  In  the  Lord  Mayors'  Pageants1  also  myth 
easily  came  to  be  the  popular  medium  of  appeal,  and  each  year 
from  1580  to  1639  we  find  the  merchant  adventurers  and  the 
mariners  of  England  glorified  into  classical  or  national  heroes. 
The  allegory  was  so  arranged  as  to  glorify,  not  only  the  com- 
pany or  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London  as  the  seat  of  commerce, 
but  also  the  riches  procured  by  trade.  Hence  Jason  and  the 
Golden  Fleece,  Neptune  and  his  Tritons,  Ulysses  and  the  Sy- 
rens, with  Scylla  and  Charybdis,  became  familiar  personages, 
while  many  of  the  other  Olympians  figure  in  the  thirty  page- 

1  Felix  E.  Schelling:  The  Elizabethan  Drama,  Vol.  II,  p.  128.  Also  Fair- 
holt:  Lord  Mayors'  Pageants,  Percy  Society,  Vol.  X. 

5 


Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 


ants  that  have  come  down  to  us.  In  Masque,  and  Court 
Play,  and  Pageant,  we  realize  how  strong  a  hold  allegory  still 
kept  upon  the  imagination. 

The  reason  for  the  choice  of  classic  myth  is  very  simple.  Not 
only  does  it  offer  opportunity  for  spectacle,  but  myth,  which  is  "in 
its  origin,  an  explanation,  by  the  uncivilized  mind,  of  some  natural 
phenomenon"1  offers  a  wealth  of  material  for  that  ethical  inter- 
pretation of  phenomena  which  is  at  the  heart  of  allegory.  "Les 
facultes  qui  engendrent  la  mythologie  sont  les  memes  que  celles 
qui  engendrent  la  philosophic,  et  ce  n'est  pas  sans  raison  que 
l'lnde  et  la  Grece  nous  presentent  le  phenomene  de  la  plus  riche 
mythologie  a  cotede  la  plus  profondemetaphysique,"  says  Renan. 
He  adds:  "La  conception  de  la  multiplicity  dans  l'univers,  c'est 
le  polytheisme  chez  les  peuples  enfant;  c'est  la  science  chez  les 
peuples  arrives  a  l'&ge  mur."2  We  might  add  that  allegory  falls 
between  these  two  ages,  at  the  time  when  moral  lesson  holds  its 
fascination.  That  age  lasted  in  England  long  after  the  moralities, 
and  it  delighted  especially  in  the  pageants  and  the  masques  in 
which,  side  by  side  with  the  growing  national  spirit,  there  came 
down  this  delight  in  allegory  and  in  ethical  interpretation. 

Yet  while  Lyly  was  entertaining  the  court,  a  play  by  a  vei 
young  man,  fresh  from  the  University,  George  Peele,  was  given 
before  the  Queen  by  the  children  of  the  Chapel  Royal  in  1584. 
In  his  Arraignment  of  Paris,  Peele  used  the  familiar  myth  of  the 
Judgment  of  Paris,  and  cleverly,  at  the  end,  he  changed  the  story, 
in  order  to  pay  a  graceful  compliment  to  the  Queen.  This  was  not 
allegory;  it  was  simply  a  pretty  turn  of  the  fable  for  an  aesthetic 
purpose.  The  ethical  intent  had  given  place  to  the  aesthetic. 
There  seems  to  be  no  great  difference  in  kind  between  Lylys 
court  plays  and  Peele's  Arraignment  of  Paris,  and  Peele's  debt 
to  the  older  playwright  has  been  emphasized  often;  but  there  is 
this  vital  difference,  that  while  Lyly's  drama  is  allegorical  in 
spirit  and  ethical  in  intent,  the  younger  playright  has  turned 
aside,  and  poured  out  his  poetry  in  the  simple  spirit  of  beauty. 
Years  afterwards,  a  little  play,  The  Sun's  Darling  appeared,  with 

1John  Fiske:    Myths  and  Myth-makers.     (1873),  p.  21. 
2  Renan:     Histoire    Generate    des   Langues    Semitiques    (1863),    Premiere 
Partie,  p.  9. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  7 

the  names  of  Ford  and  Dekker  on  the  title  page.  This,  too,  is 
filled  with  the  aesthetic  spirit.  It  is  poetic  drama.  The  ethical 
and  the  aesthetic  intent  must  ever  be  distinct. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  myth  abounds  in  Court  Play, 
and  Masque,  and  Pageant,  the  present  study  excludes  them  all, 
and  confines  itself  to  classic  myth  as  it  appears  in  poetic  drama. 
Yet  a  larger  view  of  the  same  period  seems  wise,  and  the  history 
of  classic  subjects  for  plays  in  England  from  the  16th  to  the  18th 
centuries,  and  of  the  source  of  these  classic  subjects  seems  neces- 
sary in  order  to  afford  a  true  perspective.  In  the  larger  review, 
not  only  the  myths  of  Greece  and  Rome  as  they  appear  in  English 
drama  have  been  considered,  but  classic  story  as  well.  The  line 
between  story  and  myth  is  sometimes  hard  to  draw,  and  except 
that  there  is  a  true  myth  at  the  heart  of  each  of  the  poetic  dramas 
of  which  especial  study  has  been  made,  there  has  been  no  attempt 
to  separate  myth  from  out  the  classic  store  of  story  as  it  came 
down  to  us  in  the  drama  of  the  Elizabethan  period. 


Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 


CHAPTER  I. 


Plays  on  Classic  Subjects  before  1642. 

Before  1642,  at  least  twenty-nine  classic  subjects  and  fifty - 
nine  plays  appeared.  Five  extant  plays  bear  witness  to  the 
popularity  of  Hercules  as  a  hero,  of  which  two,  Hercules  (Etceus 
and  Hercules  Furens,  appeared  in  Thomas  Newton's  Seneca 
his  Tenne  Tragedies  Translated  into  English,  1581.1  The  third 
play,  The  Birth  of  Hercules,2  is  a  "translation,  now  free,  now 
rather  close,  of  the  Amphitruo  of  Plautus, "  although  "nearly 
one-third  of  the  English  play  is  entirely  original."  The  Birth 
of  Hercules  belongs  to  a  period  before  1610.3  The  two  most 
popular  dramas  on  this  subject  were,  however,  those  mentioned 
by  Henslowe,  as  "Hercules,  Pt.  I.  Performed  by  the  Admiral's 
men  7  May  1595  and  then  till  6  Jan.  1595-6 — 11  performances," 
and  "Pt.  II — Performed  as  a  new  play  23  May  1595  and  thence 
till  25  Nov.  1598 — 8  performances."4  These  have  been  gen- 
erally accepted  as  Thomas  Hey  wood's  Silver  and  Bronze  Ages, 
respectively.  In  1592,  Greene,  in  his  Groatsworth  of  Wit,  men- 
tions a  sixth  play,  The  Twelve  Labours  of  Hercules.5 

Of  Dido  plays,  there  remain  two,  the  Latin  Tragedy  by  Wil- 
liam Gager,  1583,  reprinted  in  Dyce's  Marlowe,  and  the  Dido, 
Queen  of  Carthage  of  Marlowe  and  Nash,  1591;  but  there  are 
others  which  have  not  come  down  to  us.  Nichols  mentions  a 
Latin  Tragedy  as  having  been  acted  at  Cambridge  in  1564,6  and 
Henslowe,  a  Dido  and  JEneas,  1598,7  which  Collier  thought  a  re- 


1  Edited  by  the  Spenser  Society,  1887. 

*  Edited,  1903,  by  Malcolm  W.  Wallace. 

*  M.  W.  Wallace:  The  Birth  of  Hercules,  p.  168. 
4  Greg's  Henslowe  Papers,  Vol.  II,  p.  175. 

*Grosart:    The  Life  and  Works  of  Robert  Greene,  Vol.  XII,  pp.  131,  132. 

6  Nichols:  Elizabeth,  Vol.  I,  p.  245. 

7  Greg's  Henslowe,  Vol.  II,  pp.  189,  190.    See   also    J.    Friedrich:   Dido- 
Dramen  1888. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  9 

vival  of  Marlowe  and  Nash's  tragedy,  but  which  Fleay  thinks 
belonged  to  Jonson.1  In  addition  to  these,  a  Dido  and  JEneas,  an 
interlude,  was  apparently  performed  at  Chester.2 

There  were  four  plays  on  the  tragedy  of  Orestes  and  four 
Troys,  two  of  these  being  tremendously  popular — although  it  is 
difficult  to  understand  the  reason — the  parts  one  and  two  of  the 
Iron  Age3  of  Hey  wood.  There  were  three  Agamemnons,  three 
Ajaxes,  and  three  Iphigenias.  The  tragedy  of  (Edipus  was 
twice  translated,  and  there  were  two  Antigones,  two  Atalantas, 
and  two  Medeas.  The  Golden  Fleece,  however,  although 
touched  upon  by  Hey  wood,4  was  reserved  for  Lord  Mayors' 
Pageants,  in  which  the  "Sea-dogs"  of  Elizabethan  times,  es- 
pecially Drake,  "England's  true  Jason,"  were  idealized  as  hav- 
ing gone  out,  not  in  search  of  slaves  or  of  Spanish  gold,  but  to 
gain  the  Golden  Fleece.  Yet  as  early  as  1566,5  we  find  the 
Stationers'  Registers  recording  "The  Story  of  Jason,  howe  he 
gotte  the  golden  fleece,  and  howe  he  did  begyle  Medea  out  of 
latin  into  Englisshe  by  nycholas  Whyte. "  Among  the  lighter 
themes,  Narcissus,  Cupid  and  Psyche,  Actseon  and  Diana, 
Jupiter  and  Io,  Apollo  and  Daphne  appear. 

There  are  frequent  evidences  of  familiarity  with  the  stories  of 
Ovid's  Metamorphoses  in  Elizabethan  times.  An  interesting  example 
occurs  in  a  letter  of  the  Spanish  Ambassador,  De  Silva,  to  Philip 
II,  on  12  March,  1565.  "On  the  5th  instant  the  party  of  the 
Earl  of  Leicester  gave  a  supper  to  the  Queen  in  the  palace.  *  *  * 
When  this  was  ended,  we  went  to  the  Queen's  rooms  and  descend- 
ed to  where  all  was  prepared  for  the  representation  of  a  comedy 
in  English,  of  which  I  understood  just  so  much  as  the  Queen  told 
me.  The  plot  was  founded  on  the  question  of  marriage,  discussed 
between  Juno  and  Diana,  Juno  advocating  marriage,  and  Diana, 
chastity.  Jupiter  gave  a  verdict  in  favor  of  matrimony  after 
many  things  had  passed  on  both  sides  in  defense  of  the  respective 
arguments.     The  Queen  turned  to  me  and  said,     'This  is  all 

1Schelling:  Elizabethan  Drama,  Vol.  II,  pp.  18,  19. 
2  Hazlitt's  Manual,  p.  64. 

8Schelling:  Elizabethan  Drama,  Vol.  II,  p.  20,  and  Greg's  Henslowe,  Vol. 
II,  p.  202. 
4  The  Brazen  Age,  Act  I. 
6Arber's  Stationers'  Register,  Vol.  I,  p.  299. 


io  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

against  me.'  After  the  comedy,  there  was  a  masquerade  of 
satyrs  and  wild  gods,  who  danced  with  the  ladies."1  In  1578, 
Francis  Meres  wrote  of  Shakespeare:  "As  the  Soul  of  Euphor- 
bus  was  thought  to  live  in  Pythagoras,  so  the  sweete,  wittie  soule 
of  Ovid  lives  in  mellifluous  and  honey-tongued  Shakespeare;"2  and 
Ovid's  Metamorphoses  divides  the  palm  with  Painter's  Palace  of 
Pleasure  as,  after  North's  Plutarch  and  Holinshed'sC/^wwc/e,  the 
most  important  source  of  Shakespeare's  work.3  Robert  Greene, 
in  his  Mamillia*  1583,  suggests  the  sources  of  his  knowledge  of 
the  persons  of  classic  myth  to  whom  he  refers  so  frequently,  as  the 
"Roman  records  or  Grecian  histories,  either  fained  fables  or  true 
tales."  His  romantic  regard  for  woman,  and  his  knowledge  of 
the  evil  in  the  world  are  alike  fortified  by  his  readings  in  ancient 
story.  "The  fairest  face,"  he  says,  "hath  oft  times  the  falsest 
heart,  and  the  comeliest  creature  most  currish  conditions:  who 
more  faire  than  Paris,  yet  a  trothlesse  traitor  to  his  love,  Oenone. 
Ulisses  was  wise,  yet  wavering,  Eneus  a  pleasant  tongue,  yet 
proved  a  parasitical  flatterer  *  *  *  Jason  promiseth  much  yet 
performed  little,  and  Theseus  addeth  a  thousand  othes  to  Ari- 
adne, yet  never  a  one  proved  true."6  Thomas  Heywood  was 
Greene's  successor  in  the  familiar  possession  of  classic  myth,  just 
as  he  takes  his  place  near  Greene  and  Shakespeare  in  his  belief 
in  the  constancy  and  devotion  of  woman.  The  lesser  writings, 
prose  and  verse,  of  the  Elizabethan  period,  abound  in  allusions 
and  illustrations  from  classic  myth. 

In  the  list  of  plays  before  1642,  I  have  omitted  The  Turkish 
Mahomet  and  Hiren  the  Fair  Greek  of  Peele,  a  lost  play,  and  The 
Grecian  Comedy  identified  by  Fleay  as  the  same,6  because  it  is 
not  known  whether  the  subject  was  truly  classic;  and  I  have  dis- 
regarded Browne's  Inner  Temple  Masque?  for,  although  in  it  a 
classic  theme  has  been  treated  so  successfully,  this  story  of  Ulys- 

1  Calendar  of  State  Papers,  Spanish,  1558-1567,  No.  286. 
1  Haslewood  MS.  Francis  Meres:   Palladis  Tamia,  p.  115. 
W.  H.  D.  Rouse:  Golding's  Translation  of  Ovid's  Metamorphoses  1904. 
See  Introduction. 
4Grosart's  Robert  Greene,  Vol.  II,  p.  157. 
5  Ibid,  p.  264. 

•Greg's  Henslowe,  Vol.  II,  p.  169. 
7  Schelling:   Elizabethan  Drama,  Vol.  II,  p.  126. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  ii 

ses  and  Circe  is  a  masque.  As  Hazlitt  suggests,1  the  story  of 
Ulysses  and  the  Syrens  had  doubtless  become  familiar  through 
Samuel  Daniel's  poem,  and  the  subject  is  found,  not  only  in  the 
Ulysses  Redux  of  Gager,  but  also  in  Gower's  Confessio  A  mantis. 
The  subject  of  Trolius  and  Cressida  has  been  omitted  also, 
since  the  episode  of  the  Trojan  War  which  forms  the  theme  of 
Shakespeare's  play  is  not  classic  story,  but  the  romantic  tale  of 
the  medieval  Roman  de  Troyes  of  Ben6it  de  Sainte-More.2 

As  one  surveys  the  period,  it  seems  strange  that  among  all 
these  plays  there  is  none  that  is  truly  great.  School  and  univer- 
sity had  given  their  best ;  yet  perhaps  their  plays  were,  on  the  whole, 
the  least  interesting  of  all.  Shakespeare  took  no  truly  classic 
theme  for  the  subject  of  a  play,  and  Jonson  turned  to  history, 
not  to  story,  for  his  classic  dramas. 


1  The  Whole  Works  of  William  Browne:  Printed  for  the  Roxburghe  Library 
and  edited  by  W.  C.  Hazlitt.     1868,  pp.  xxviii-xxx. 

2  Ward,  History  of  English  Dramatic  Literature,  Vol.  II,  pp.  145-153. 


12  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 


CHAPTER  II. 

Classification. 

An  examination  of  plays  on  classic  themes  licensed  before  1642 
reveals  five  distinct  sources, — Classic  Tragedy,  Epic  Story, 
Satire,  Romance,  Mythology.  Classic  Tragedy  came  by  way  of 
Latin,  and,  as  has  already  been  indicated,  Seneca  is  the  great 
source.  The  Influence  of  Seneca  on  Elizabethan  Tragedy  has  been 
traced  by  Prof.  John  W.  Cunliffe,1  and  further  established  by 
Prof.  Felix  E.  Schelling.2  It  was  far  wider  than  appears  in  trans- 
lations such  as  those  collected  by  Thomas  Newton  in  158 1,  and  in 
plays  in  the  form  of  Senecan  drama  like  the  Meleager  of  Dr.  Wil- 
liam Gager.  Prof.  Cunliffe  traces  the  influence  of  Seneca  through 
the  works  of  all  the  great  writers  of  tragedy, —  Shakespeare,  Ben 
Jonson,  Chapman,  Webster,  and  Ford.  Yet  in  a  later  work,3  he 
says  that  the  influence  is  found,  "not  in  what  lies  on  the  surface — 
such  mechanical  devices  as  the  use  of  the  chorus  and  the  division 
into  five  acts,  the  ghost  and  other  exaggerated  horrors;  it  was 
something  more  subtle  and  difficult  to  trace — the  conception  of  a 
real,  though  not  formal,  unity  of  interest,  dignity  of  persons,  and 
decorum  of  style."  Professor  Schelling  explains  why  Seneca 
offered  so  much  that  was  "alluring"  to  the  Elizabethans.  "He 
is  free  from  the  local  restrictions  of  Greek  drama,  and  cosmo- 
politan from  his  stoicism  of  temper.  Moreover,  he  is  introspec- 
tive without  morbidness  and  philosophical  without  deeps.  The 
Senecan  rhetoric  combines  cleverness  in  dramatic  construction  and 
a  careful  attention  to  character  with  an  elevated  and  sententious 
style,  and  a  fondness  for  gnomic  maxims  and  the  commonplaces 
of  moralizing  happily  expressed.  Lastly,  the  matter  of  the  Sen- 
ecan tragedies  is  sensational  and  laden  with  lust  and  blood,  and 


1  J.  W.  Cunliffe:    The  Influence  of  Seneca  on  Elizabethan  Tragedy. 

2  Schelling:   Elizabethan  Drama,  Vol.  I,  Chapter  III. 

•  Cambridge  History  of  English  Literature,  Vol.  V,  pp.  98,  99. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  13 

with  terror  and  revenge."1  Seneca  reached  England  not  only 
by  way  of  Italy,  but  also  through  contact  with  France.2 

Epic  story  is  the  source  of  the  Dido  plays  of  the  period,  not- 
ably the  Dido,  Queen  of  Carthage,3  acted  by  the  Children  of  the 
Chapel,  in  1591,  and  published  in  1594.  The  play  bears  the 
names  of  Marlowe  and  Nash,  and  is  thought  by  Fleay4  to  have 
been  written  by  the  young  men  at  Cambridge  before  either 
left  the  University.  The  play  contains  much  poetic  imagery 
and  a  wealth  of  classical  allusion,  but  it  follows  the  epic  Virgil 
too  closely,  and  falls  short  in  dramatic  force  and  passion.  At 
times  the  blank  verse  rises  into  power,  but  the  outbursts  of  fervor 
are  brief  and  soon  fall  into  expressions  of  emotion  that  fail  to 
stir.  Ward  calls  attention  to  Dido's  "gallery  of  neglected  suit- 
ors" (Act  III,  Scene  I),  as  recalling  Portia's  "reminiscences," 
and  says  that  perhaps  such  scenes  were  suggested  by  Elizabeth's 
array  of  suitors.  This  may  be  true,  but  the  final  statement, 
that  "the  parallel  of  Dido  would  be  particularly  appropriate  to 
the  dissembling  and  procrastinating  Virgin  Queen  of  England" 
is  not  altogether  apparent.  Whether  or  not  Elizabeth  had  her 
Aeneas,  no  amount  of  scholarship  will  ever  determine. 

More  than  thirty  years  before  the  Dido,  Queen  of  Carthage  of 
the  two  University  men,  and  twenty-five  years  after  Dr.  William 
Gager's  Dido  had  been  given  with  such  magnificence  in  the 
presence  of  the  Polish  Prince  Palatine,  Thomas  Phaer,  in  1558, 
had  translated  trie  first  seven  books  of  Vergil's  Mneid,  dedicat- 
ing his  work  to  Queen  Mary.  It  was  completed  in  1578  by 
Thomas  Twine.  The  work  nowhere  rises  to  any  distinction, 
but  its  even  mediocrity  is  far  superior  to  the  absurd  combina- 
tion of  "pedantry  and  slang"  of  the  second  translator,  Rich- 
ard Stanyhurst.  His  work,  The  First  Foure  Bookes  of  Virgil 
his  Aeneas  translated  into  English  Heroical  Verse  appeared  in 
Leyden  in  1582.     Nash  recognized  that  Stanyhurst  had  "re- 

1  Schelling:    The  Elizabethan  Drama,  Vol.  I,  pp.  96,  97. 

2  See  Comparative  Philology,  Vol.  I.  Early  French  Tragedy  in  the  Light 
of  Recent  Scholarship. 

8  Grosart:  The  Complete  Works  of  Thomas  Nash,  Vol.  VI. 

4  F.  G.  Fleay:  English  Drama,  Vol.  II,  p.  147  and  Schelling:  Elizabethan 
Drama,  Vol.  I,  p.  138.  Also  Ward:  History  of  English  Dramatic  Literature, 
Vol.  I,  pp.  357,  358. 


14  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

vived  by  his  ragged  quill  such  cartelie  varietie  [of  poetry]  as 
no  hodge  plowman  in  a  countrie,  but  would  have  held  as  the 
extremitie  of  clownerie."1  Rich  remarked  that  "among  other 
Fictions,  he  [Stanyhurst]  tooke  upon  him  to  translate  Virgill, 
and  stript  him  out  of  a  Velvett  gowne  into  a  Fooles  coate, 
out  of  a  Latin  Heroicall  verse  into  English  riffe  raffe.  "2  But 
others  of  the  time  seem  to  have  accepted  his  jargon  gratefully, 
without  realizing  its  absurdity.  Long  before  either  Phaer's 
sober  hexameter  or  Stanyhurst's  incongrous  measure,  an  Eng- 
lish version  of  the  Trojan  War,  The  Sege  of  Troye,  had  been 
written  in  the  Southern  Dialect,  in  the  15th  Century,  coming, 
apparently  by  way  of  an  intermediary  French  version,  from 
Guido  and  Dares.     It  appears  in  an  Oxford  manuscript.3 

In  1637,  Thomas  Heywood,  whose  pen,  according  to  his  friend, 
Shakerley  Marmion, 

"Commends  all  history,  all  actions. 

Counsels,  Decrees,  men,  manners,  States,  and  factions,"4 

"Selected  out  of  Lucian,  etc."  his  Pleasant  Dialogues  and  Dram- 
mas.  These  are  better  adapted  to  reading  than  to  the  stage, 
but  it  is  possible  that  some  of  them  were  intended  to  be  acted. 
Burlesque,  whether  of  gods  or  men,  is  a  favorite  amusement  of 
Heywood.  Was  this,  in  part,  because  of  the  influence  of  Lucian? 
or  did  he  enjoy  Lucian  as  a  kindred  spirit?  Heywood  seems  al- 
most alone  among  the  writers  on  classic  subject  in  his  interest  in 
the  Greek  satirist;  yet  almost  seventy-five  years  earlier  there  had 
appeared  in  the  Stationers'  Register  for  the  year  1565,  a  license 
for  the  Friendship  of  Lucian,  from  the  Greek  into  English,6  while, 
in  1634,  three  years  before  the  Pleasant  Drammas,  Francis  Hickes6 

1  To  the  Gentlemen  Students  of  both    Universities:  Grosart's    Greene,  Vol. 
VI,  p.  21. 

2  Cambridge  History  of  English  Literature,  Vol.  IV,  p.  21.     The  first  chap- 
ter of  this  volume  gives  an  interesting  account  of  the  early  translators. 

3  See  N.  E.  Griffen  on  The  Sege  of  Troye,  in  Publications  of  the  Modern 
Language  Association  of  America,  1907. 

4  Pearson  Reprint  of   the  Works  of   Thomas    Heywood,  Vol.  I.     Recom- 
mendatory verses  prefixed  to  King  Edward  the  First. 

6Arber's  Transcript,  Vol.  I,  p.  264. 
6  See  Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  15 

had  translated  Certain  Select  Dialogues  of  Lucian:  together  with 
his  True  Historie  translated  from  the  Greek  into  English.  In  1638, 
Jasper  Mayne,1  of  the  famous  "tribe  of  Ben,"  had  added  to 
Hickes's  work  a  new  translation. 

The  names  of  Heywood  and  Hickes  and  Jasper  Mayne  are  not 
the  only  ones  connected  with  Lucian.  Among  the  more  ob- 
scure and  younger  contemporaries  of  Heywood,  there  occurs 
the  record  of  one,  "J.  D., "  identified  by  Grosart  as  John  Dicken- 
son. Almost  nothing  is  known  of  this  author  of  a  small  volume 
of  Prose  and  Verse.2  He  writes  with  sincere  modesty  of  his 
work  as  "toys"  and  "pithless  blossoms  of  an  unripe  wit,"  and 
he  arouses  in  us  a  sympathetic  appreciation,  for  he  seems  so 
truly  one  of  the  charming  family  of  amateur  spirits.  His  verse 
is  graceful,  and  his  "Euphuistic  Prose"  delightful,  imitative 
though  it  be.  There  are  three  romances:  The  Shepheardes 
Complaint,  Arisbas,  and  Greene  in  Conceipt:  new  raised  from 
his  grave  to  write  the  Tragique  Historie  of  faire  Valeria  of  Lon- 
don, 1598.  In  the  last  of  these  romances,  Dickenson  tells  the 
reader  that  he  had  been  "sitting  in  his  chamber,  reading  with 
some  pleasure  Lucian's  Timon,"  when  suddenly  the  ghost  of 
Greene  appeared  eager  to  tell  him  a  story.  "None  will  believe 
this,"  he  writes,3  "but  rather  deem  it  a  blinde  device  of  mine 
to  begge  a  title  for  my  booke,  and  to  pick  up  some  crummes  of 
conceit  from  another's  table.  Some  again,  will  charge  me  that 
I  have  stole  this  conceit  out  of  Lucian."4  The  barest  outline 
of  the  plot  is  taken  from  Lucian's  Timon;  the  story  is  frankly 
imitative  of  Greene.5  The  sources  of  Shakespeare's  Timon, 
notwithstanding  the  results  of  recent  scholarship,  have  not  been 
established.  The  latest  student  on  the  subject,  Dr.  Ernest  H. 
Wright  of  Columbia,6  agrees  with  Benno  Tschischwitz  and  with 
Mr.  demons  of  Princeton  in  seeing  that  "in  the  tone  and 
depth   of  his  misanthropy,"7  Shakespeare's   Timon  is  drawn 

1  For  Hickes's  translation  and  that  of  Jasper  Mayne,  see  Lowndes'  Manual 
and  the  D.  N.  B. 

2  Prose  and  Verse  by  J.  D.,  edited  by  Grosart,  1878. 

3  Prose  and  Verse  by  J.  D.,  p.  97. 

4  Ibid,  p.  99. 

5  See  on  John  Dickenson,  Jusserand:  The  English  Novel  in  the  Time  of 
■Shakespeare,  pp.   145,   146. 

6  Ernest  Hunter  Wright,  The  Authorship  of  Timon  of  Athens:  N.  Y.,  1910. 

7  Ibid,  pp.  21,  22. 


1 6  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

in  Lucian's  able  manner;"  but  he  says  that  "such  a  resem- 
blance is  not  necessarily  the  result  of  imitation;  and  as  spe- 
cific parallels  of  a  convincing  kind  are  lacking,  direct  relation 
between  Lucian's  dialogue  and  the  play  of  Shakespeare  is  not 
proved."  The  bugbear  has  seemed  to  be  that  Shakespeare  prob- 
ably did  not  read  Greek  and  there  is  no  known  early  English 
translation,1  while  the  old  academic  play  does  not  show  the 
qualities  which  Lucian's  and  Shakespeare's  Timon  possess  in 
common.  The  story  of  Timon  was  well  known  in  Elizabethan 
England;  there  are  many  allusions  to  it.  We  know  that  John 
Dickenson,  follower  and  admirer  of  Greene,  knew  Lucian's  Timon. 
It  would  not  have  been  necessary  for  Shakespeare  to  read  either 
in  Greek  or  in  translation  the  story  of  a  character  about  whom 
his  friends  were  talking.  But  this  mild  argument  pales  in  the 
light  of  Mr.  J.  Churton  Collins's  essay  on  Sliakespeare  as  a  Classi- 
cal Scholar.2  Mr.  Collins  makes  a  very  strong  case  for  Shakes- 
peare's knowledge  of  Latin  and  of  Greek  through  Latin  transla- 
tions. Moreover,  he  produces  cumulative  and  varied  evidence 
that  "it  is  probable  in  the  highest  degree  of  probability"  that  he 
could  read  Greek  with  more  or  less  facility.3  As  to  his  familiar- 
ity with  the  Latin  language,  Mr.  Collins  says  this  is  evident 
"first,  from  the  fact  that  he  has,  with  minute  particularity  of 
detail,  based  a  poem  and  a  play4  on  a  poem  of  Ovid  and  on  a 
comedy  of  Plautus,  which  he  must  have  read  in  the  original,  as 
no  English  translations,  so  far  as  we  know,  existed  at  the  time;5 

1  See  Ward:  Vol.  II,  pp.  177-180  and  the  Bibliography  of  Mr.  Wright's 
thesis. 

2  J.  Churton  Collins,  Studies  in  Shakespeare,  1904. 

3  Ibid,  pp.  93-95. 

4  The  Rape  of  Lucrece  and  The  Comedy  of  Errors. 

6  Professor  George  P.  Baker,  in  his  Development  of  Shakespeare  as  a  Drama- 
tist, 1907,  re-opens  the  question  of  Shakespeare's  knowledge  of  Latin.  Of 
the  Comedy  of  Errors,  he  says,  on  page  135:  "The  ultimate  sources  of  the  play 
are  the  Menechmi  of  Plautus  and  his  Amphitruo,  but  whether  Shakespeare 
worked  from  intermediary  English  versions  is  an  open  question.  Certainly, 
a  non-extant  Historie  of  Error,  which  may  have  been  founded  on  Plautus, 
was  acted  by  the  Children  of  Paul's  on  New  Year's  night,  I576-I577-  To 
this,  Shakespeare's  play  may  possibly  be  indebted.  Though  no  English 
translation  of  the  Menechmi  was  published  before  that  of  W.  W.  in  1595,  the 
manuscript  of  this  had  been  in  circulation  among  the  friends  of  the  translator 
before  it  appeared  in  print  and  Shakespeare  may  have  seen  it.  Certainly  he 
does  not  follow  it  closely." 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  17 

secondly,  from  the  fact  that  he  had  adapted  and  borrowed  many 
passages  from  the  classics  which  were  almost  certainly  only  acces- 
sible to  him  in  the  Latin  language;  and  thirdly,  from  the  fact 
that  where  he  may  have  followed  English  translations  it  is  often 
quite  evident  that  he  had  the  original  either  by  him  or  in  his 
memory."  He  could  have  found  ^Eschylus,  Sophocles,  and  Eu- 
ripides all  published  in  Latin  in  his  own  day.1 

Thomas  Heywood  was  interested  in  another  of  the  ancient 
satirists,  Apuleius,  although  it  is  as  a  writer  of  romance  that  we 
more  often  class  the  Latin  writer.  Lucian  and  Apuleius  each 
wrote  the  Metamorphosis  of  a  very  skittish  and  altogether  amus- 
ing Ass.  Lucian's  Aovkios  1}  "Ovo?  has  been  given  as  the  source 
of  The  Golden  Ass  of  Apuleius.2  It  is,  however,  far 
more  likely  that  Apuleius  and  his  contemporary,  Lucian, 
each  drew  independently  from  the  Metamorphoses  of  Lucius  of 
Patras.z  One  cannot  but  wonder  whether  Thomas  Heywood 
himself,  for  he  was  no  mean  scholar,  may  not  have  been  curious 
about  this  very  problem.  Certain  it  is,  that  whether  or  not, 
Heywood  knew  Aovkios  17  *Ovos  he  knew  the  Golden  Ass 
of  Apuleius,  the  second  century  romance  which  is  the 
source  of  a  number  of  plays  on  the  Cupid  and  Psyche  myth, 
among  them,  Love's  Mistress  or  The  Queen's  Masque.  It  is  not 
at  all  likely  that  Heywood  went  to  translation  for  his  story  of 
Cupid  and  Psyche.  Marmion,  in  his  recommendatory  verses  to 
Heywood,  writes: — 

"Plays,  Epicediums,  odes  and  Lyricks, 

Translations,  Epitaphs,  and  Paneygricks, 

They  all  doe  speake  thy  worth.     Nor  dost  thou  teach 

Things  more  prophane;  but  thy  great  muse  doth  reach 

Above  the  Orbes  into  the  outmost  skie 

And  makes  translation  into  Deitie.  "4 

Marmion,  at  least,  believed  in  Heywood 's  learning.  Yet  if  Hey- 
wood cared  for  "those  crummes  that  fal  from  the  translators' 


1  J.  Churton  Collins:   Studies  in  Shakespeare,  pp.  39,  40. 

2  See  The  Works  of  Lucian  from  the  Greek,  by  Thomas  Francklin,  London, 
1781. 

3  Harper's  Dictionary  of  Classical  Literature  and  Antiquities:   Novels  and 
Romances. 

4  Pearson's  Reprint  of  Heywood? s  Works,  (1874)  Vol.  I. 


18  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

trencher,"1  as  Nash  scornfully  puts  it,  he  found  translation  at 
hand.  In  1566,  William  Adlington  of  University  College,  Ox- 
ford, printed  The  Most  Pleasant  and  Delectable  Tale  of  the  Marriage 
of  Cupid  and  Psyche.2  Other  editions  followed  in  1571,  1582, 
1596,  1600,  1639.  It  is  probable  that  William  Adlington's  trans- 
lation was  an  important  event.  Stephen  Gosson  in  his  Plays 
Confuted,  published  by  his  brother  in  1582,  remarks  that  the 
Golden  Ass  was  one  of  the  books  that  had  afforded  material  for 
the  English  stage.  "I  may  boldly  say  it,  because  I  have  seen  it, 
that  the  Palace  of  Pleasure,  The  Golden  Ass  *  *  *  have  been 
thoroughly  ransacked  to  furnish  the  Play-houses  in  London."3 
There  is  no  proof  that  the  Golden  Ass  in  translation  was  used; 
yet  the  style  of  Apuleius  is  florid  and  difficult  to  read,  and  the 
fact  of  five  editions  of  Adlington's  work  in  thirty-four  years  gives 
testimony  of  its  popularity.  In  addition,  the  Stationers'  Regis- 
ter for  July  12,  1637,1  mentions  an  independent  translation  as 
follows:  "John  Thomas:  Entred  for  his  Copie  under  the  hands 
of  Thomas  Weekes  and  Master  Bourne  Warden,  a  Booke  called 
Lucius  Apuleius  of  the  Golden  Asse  translated  by  W.  S.5  In  the 
preceding  month,  June  24,*  another  book  is  entered.  "John 
Okes:  Entred  for  his  Copie  under  the  hands  of  Master  Baker 
and  Master  Downes  Warden,  a  book  called  Cupid  and  Sica  with 
a  description  of  a  ffeast  without  meat,  etc.  by  J.  T." 

Evidently,  there  were  a  number  of  plays  of  the  period  that 
have  been  lost.  Gosson,  in  his  Plays  Confuted,  speaks  of  a 
"Cupid  and  Psyche  plaid  at  Paules. "7  This  was  necessarily 
before  1582.  We  know  that  there  was  a  lost  play  of  Chettle, 
Day,  and  Dekker, — The  Golden  Ass  or  Cupid  and  Psyche?  and 


1  To  the  Gentlemen  Students  of  Both  Universities.  Grosart's  Greene,  Vol. 
VI,  p.  10. 

*Arber's  Stationers'  Register,  Vol.  II,  p.  188. 

1  J.  Payne  Collier,  Annals  of  the  Stage:   (1831),  Vol.  II.  pp.  419,  420. 

4  Arber's  Stationers'  Register,  Vol.  III. 

6Arber  queries:  "Can  this  be  Wye  Saltonstall?  The  old  translation  by 
William  Adlington  was  reprinted  in  1639." 

*  Arber's  Stationers'  Register,  Vol.  III. 

7  J.  Payne  Collier:   Annals  of  the  Stage,  Vol.  I,  p.  70. 

8  Greg's  Henslowe's  Diary,  Part  II,  p.  212.  Also  see  Part  I,  pp.  120  and 
122,  for  two  entries  of  expenses  for  a  Cupid  and  Psyche. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  19 

Fleay  suggests  that  there  may  have  been  a  third  lost  play, — a 
shorter  and  earlier  version  of  Cupid  and  Psyche  in  one  of  Hey- 
wood's  Five  Plays  in  One,  about  which  there  is  so  much  question.1 
A  greater  influence  than  the  Golden  Ass,  however,  was  classic 
myth  as  it  appeared  in  Ovid's  Metamorphoses.2  The  popular 
translation  of  this  was  made  by  Arthur  Golding,  who  published 
the  first  four  books  in  1565,  the  year  before  Adlington's  first 
edition  of  the  Golden  Ass,  while  the  complete  fifteen  books  ap- 
peared in  1567.  Reprints  followed  in  1575,  1584,  1587,  1593 
(by  two  different  publishers),  1603,  161 2.  Many  of  Golding's 
contemporaries  testify  to  the  value  of  his  work.  Nash,  writing 
in  1589,3  speaks  of  "Aged  Arthur  Golding"  and  of  his  "indus- 
trious toile  in  Englishing  Ovid's  Metamorphosis,  besides  manie 
other  exquisite  editions  of  Divinitie,  turned  by  him  out  of  the 
French  tongue  into  our  own. "  "T.  B. "  in  lines  prefixed  to  John 
Studley's  translation  of  Seneca's  Agamemnon,  1566,  writes  of 
the  renown  of  Golding,  "which  Ovid  did  translate,"  and  of  "the 
thondring  of  his  verse."4  Puttenham  associates  Golding  more 
than  once  with  Phaer,5  the  translator  of  Vergil,  while  Webbe6 
and  Meres7  enumerate  Golding's  Metamorphoses  as  among  the 
best  translations  of  their  age.  Dr.  Malcolm  W.  Wallace,  in  his 
edition  of  A  Tragedie  of  Abraham's  Sacrifice,  translated  from  the 
French  of  Theodore  Beza  by  Golding,  has  given  added  contem- 
porary criticism  of  the  translator,8  and  an  admirable  account  of 


1  Fleay's  A  Biographical  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama  (1891).  Vol.  I. 
p.  285. 

2  See  Ovid's  Metamorphoses:  Edited  by  W.  H.  D.  Rouse.  London,  1904. 
The  King's  Library. 

3  Preface  to  Greene's  Menaphon.     Grosart's  Greene,  Vol.  VI,  p.  20. 

4  Warton's  English  Poets,  edited  by  Hazlitt,  Vol.  IV,  p.  275,  note. 

6  The  Arte  of  English  Poetrie:  George  Puttenham,  edited  by  Haslewood, 
181 1,  p.  49.  "Since  him  [Phaer]  followed  Maister  Arthure  Golding,  who  with 
no  lesse  commendation  turned  into  English  meetre  the  Metamorphosis  of 
Ovide,"  and  p.  51  [I  commend],  Phaer  and  Golding  for  a  learned  and  well 
corrected  verse,  specially  in  translation  clear  and  very  faithfully  answering 
their  author's  intent." 

6  A  Discourse  of  English  Poetry,  (1586),  Ed.  Haslewood,  (1815).     Vol.  II. 

7  Palladis  Tamia,  (1598),  Ibid. 

8  M.  W.  Wallace,  A  Tragedie  of  Abraham's  Sacrifice  (1906,  University  of 
Toronto  Libra rv),  p.  xix. 


20  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

what  is  known  of  his  life  and  work.  Golding  was  the  friend  of 
the  Earl  of  Leicester,  and  of  Sir  William  Cecil.  The  first  four 
books  of  Ovid  were  written  from  Cecil-house  and  dedicated  to 
Leicester,  and  the  fifteen  Books,  completed  in  1567,  were  dedi- 
cated to  him.  The  Earl  of  Oxford,  Sir  Christopher  Hatton, 
the  Earl  of  Essex,  Sir  Walter  Mildmay,  were  also  among  Golding's 
friends.1  He  was  an  indefatigable  worker,  and  his  translations 
included,  not  only  the  notable  French  play  mentioned  by  Nash, 
but  eight  books  of  Ccesar  in  1565,2  Seneca  de  Beneficiis,  1578, 
and  Trogus  Pompeius,  1570.  His  only  original  work,  apparently, 
was  "A  discourse  upon  the  earthquake  that  happened  through 
this  realme  and  other  places  of  Christendom  the  sixt  of  April, 
1580.  "3 

Golding,  however,  was  not  the  first  to  translate  Ovid.  Cax- 
ton  had  turned  into  English  prose  the  last  five  books  of  the  Meta- 
morphoses, although  the  work  seems  not  to  have  been  printed 
until  1 8 19,  where  it  appeared  in  quarto  from  a  manuscript  in  the 
Pepysian  collection  at  Cambridge  and  was  presented  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Roxburghe  Club  by  George  Gilbert,  Esq.4  There  is 
also  record  of  a  black  letter  quarto  by  Wynkin  de  Worde,  1513, 
"The  Flores  of  Ovide  de  Arte  Amandi  with  their  Englysse  afore 
them."6  In  1565,  Thomas  Peend,  or  De  la  Peend,  published  the 
Pleasant  Fable  of  Hermaphroditus  and  Salmacis,*  from  the  fourth 
book  of  the  Metamorphoses.*  In  the  preface  the  author  asserts 
that  he  had  translated  a  great  part  of  the  Metamorphoses,  intend- 
ing to  complete  a  version  of  Ovid,  but  he  was  led  to  relinquish 
his  design  upon  finding  that  Golding  was  engaged  in  the  same 
occupation.7  The  Stationers'  Register  for  the  years  1560-70,  re- 
cords a  number  of  " ballets"  on  myths  apparently  from  the 
Metamorphoses;  one  of  them,  at  least,  before  Golding's  first  four 
books,  for  in  1560  appeared  "  The  Fable  of  Ovid  treting  of  Narcis- 
sus translated  out  of  Latin  into  English  mytre,  with  a  moral 

1  Warton's  The  English  Poets. 

2  Arber's  Stationer's  Register,  Vol.  I,  p.  266. 

3  See  Rouse's  Reprint:    Introduction. 

4  Wallace's  A  Tragedie  of  Abraham's  Sacrifice,  p.  XVII. 

5  Lowndes'  Manual. 

*  Stationers1  Register,  Vol.  I. 

7  A  Tragedie  of  Abraham's  Sacrifice,  p.  XVIII. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  21 

there-unto,  very  plesante  to  rede."  In  1565,  there  is  an  entry 
for  "  The  Story  of  Jason,  howe  he  gotte  the  golden  fleece, "  alluded 
to  above,  while  in  1570  appeared  the  record  of  a  license  to  Robert 
Hackforth  for  the  printing  of  a  ballet  entitled,  The  Mesyrable 
State  of  Kynge  Medas.1  After  the  middle  of  the  century,  besides 
Golding's  translation,  we  have  Turberville  Heroides  of  Ovid, 
1567,  Underdowne's  Ibis,  1569,  and  Churchyard's  Tristia,  while 
in  1597,  Marlowe's  Amores  appeared.  There  was  no  new  trans- 
lation of  the  Metamorphoses,  however,  until  that  of  George  Sandys, 
in  1632. 

Golding  was  a  true  Elizabethan,  and,  with  an  inclusive  en- 
thusiasm, he  makes  his  claim  to  his  newly  discovered  country 
altogether  without  boundary.    To  the  Gentle  Reader,  he  writes : — 

The  high,  the  lowe;  the  riche,  the  poore;  the  mayster  and  the  slave; 
The  mayd,  the  wife;  the  man,  the  chyld;  the  simple  and  the  brave; 
The  yoong,  the  old;  the  good,  the  bad;  the  warrior  strong  and  stout; 
The  wise,  the  foole;  the  countrie  cloyne;  the  learned  and  the  lout; 
And  every  other  living  wight  shall  in  this  mirror  see 
His  whole  estate,  thoughtes,  woords  and  deedes  expressly  shewed  to  bee.8 

But  the  title-page  contains  a  warning: 

With  skille,  heed  and  judgement,  this  worke  must  be  read, 
For  else  to  the  Reader  it  standes  in  small  steade. 

Golding  was  a  Puritan ;  no  wonder  he  felt  anxious  lest  the  moral 
in  some  of  the  stories  might  not  be  apparent. 

George  Sandys,  Golding's  successor,  was  Treasurer  of  the  Eng- 
lish Colony  of  Virginia,  and  his  translation  of  all  except  the  first 
four  books  of  the  Metamorphoses1  was  made  on  the  banks  of  the 
James  River,  "the  first  example  of  classical  scholarship  in  the 
new  land  of  America."  It  is  a  quaint  volume,  each  book  illus- 
trated by  a  symbolic  wood-cut  made  by  "a  rare  workman,"  and 
each  book  of  the  second  volume  illuminated  by  a  long  and  pious 
interpretation.  In  his  dedication  to  King  Charles  I.  and  Queen 
Henrietta,  Sandys  says:  "This  book  is  a  double  stranger,  sprung 
from  the  stocke  of  the  ancient  Romans,  but  bred  in  the  new  world, 

1  Stationers'  Register,  Vol.  I,  p.  401. 

2  Rouse's  Reprint,  p.  18. 

3  Ovid's  Metamorphosis  Englished,  Mythologiz'd  and  Represented  in  Figures 
by  G.  S.,  1632. 


22  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

of  the  rudeness  whereof  it  cannot  but  participate,  especially  hav- 
ing Warres  and  Tumults  to  bring  it  to  light  instead  of  the  Muses. 
*  *  *  To  this  I  have  added,  as  the  Mind  to  the  Body,  the  His- 
tory and  Philosophical  Sense  of  the  Fables."  In  the  frontis- 
piece, after  explaining  that  Sacred  Poetry  shows  that  in  ancient 
fables  lie  "the  mysteries  of  all  Philosophic,"  he  concludes  by 
gravely  stating: 

This  Course  our  Poet  steres:    and  those  that  faile 
By  wandering  stars,  not  by  his  compasse  faile. 

In  considering  Golding's  translation  and  that  of  Sandys,  one  is 
reminded  of  the  quotation  Warton  gives  from  Randolph's  The 
Muses  Looking-Glass,  where  two  Puritans  are  made  spectators 
of  a  play.  In  order  to  reconcile  them,  an  actor  promises  to 
"moralise  the  plot,"  and  one  of  them  answers, 

That  moralizing 
I  do  approve;  it  may  be  for  instruction.1 

It  is  interesting  to  note  Genest's  comment  upon  a  later  perform- 
ance of  a  certain  Play."2  He  writes,  "It  is  well  written,  but 
allegorical  exhibitions  rarely  excite  much  interest  on  the  Stage. " 
Times  had  changed  between  1642  and  1832. 

It  is  difficult  to  determine  how  widely  Golding's  work  was 
read,  but  it  is  probable  that  many  a  playwright  and  poet  pil- 
fered from  its  voluminous  pages,  even  though  he  knew  his  Ovid  in 
the  original.  The  recent  editor  of  Narcissus,  the  Twelfth  Night 
Merriment  performed  at  St.  John's  College,  Oxford,  in  1602,3  calls 
attention  to  the  fact  that,  as  the  prologue  affirms,  the  play  is 
"Ovid's  owne  Narcissus"  and  declares  that  "the  resemblance  to 
the  Latin  is  in  parts  so  close  as  necessarily  to  imply  a  knowledge 
of  the  language  on  the  part  of  the  writer."  Miss  Lee  notes  "one 
passage  of  literal  and  yet  graceful  translation  which  especially 
betokens  a  scholarly  hand."  A  comparison  with  Golding's  trans- 
lation, however,  dashes  our  confidence  in  this  particular  proof 
of  the  scholarliness  of  the  author.  The  lines  are  unmistakably 
written  after  Golding;  they  run  as  follows: — 


1  Walton's  History  of  English  Poetry,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  298,  299. 

5  The  Sun's  Darling,  by  Ford  and  Dekker. 

8  Miss  Margaret  L.  Lee:    Narcissus,  a  Twelfth  Night  Merriment,  1893. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  23 

A  well  there  was  withouten  mudd, 
Of  silver  hue,  with  waters  cleare, 
Whom  neither  sheepe  that  chawe  the  cudd, 
Shepheards  nor  goates  came  ever  neare; 
Whome,  truth  to  say,  nor  beast  nor  bird, 
Nor  windfalls  yet  from  trees  had  stirrde, 
And  round  about  it  there  was  grasse, 
As  learned  lines  of  poets  showe, 
Which  by  next  water  nourisht  was; 
Neere  to  it  too  a  wood  did  growe, 
To  keep  the  place  as  well  I  wott, 
With  too  much  sunne  from  being  hott.1 

Golding's  translation  reads: 

There  was  a  Spring  withouten  mudde,  as  silver  cleare  and  still, 
Which  neyther  sheepeheirds,  nor  the  goates  that   fed  upon  the  hill. 
Nor  other  cattell  troubled  had,  nor  savage  beast  had  styrd, 
Nor  braunch,  nor  sticke,  nor  leafe  of  tree,  nor  any  foule  nor  byrd. 
The  moysture  fed  and  kept  aye  fresh  the  grasse  that  grew  about, 
And  with  their  leaves  the  trees  did  keepe  the  heate  of  Ph&bus  out.* 

It  is  all  but  certain  that  Shakespeare  knew  Golding's  Ovid. 
Ward  states  that  Venus  and  Adonis,  in  1593,  issued  from  the 
printing-press  of  Richard  Field,  the  son  of  a  Stratford -on-Avon 
tradesman,  who  had  printed  the  1589  edition  of  Ovid's  Metamor- 
phoses? This  is  not  without  significance.  A  number  of  echoes 
of  Golding's  translation  have  been  noted  in  Shakespeare's  plays,4 
most  conspicuous  among  them,  Prospero's  cry, 

Ye  elves  of  hills,  brooks,  standing  lakes  and  groves!6 

and  Golding's 

Ye  Ayres  and  Windes;  ye  Elves  of  Hills,  of  Brookes,  of  Woods  alone 
Of  standing  Lakes,  and  of  the  Night  approach  ye  every  chone.8 

These  echoes,  as  Mr.  Collins7  points  out  in  comparing  the  two 
passages  in  to  to  with  the  original,  do  not  prove  that  Shakespeare 

1  Ibid,  page  18. 

2  Ovid's  Metamorphoses,  edited  by  Rouse,  p.  73,  11  508-514. 

3  Ward,  Vol.  II,  p.  24,  Note. 

4  See  introduction  to  Rouse's  Reprint  of  Golding's  Metamorphoses. 
6  The  Tempest,  Act  V,  1. 

6  Golding's  Metamorphoses,  VII,  265. 

7  J.  Churton  Collins:    Studies  in  Shakespeare,  pp.  36-38» 


24  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

did  not  know  the  Latin  also,  although  they  are  unmistakable 
evidence  of  his  knowledge  of  the  translation.  As  to  this  know- 
ledge of  the  original,  Mr.  Collins  feels  very  certain,  for  Shakes- 
peare "has  caught  the  colour,  ring,  and  rhythm"  of  the  lines  of 
Ovid,  "which  have  been  utterly  missed  in  the  lumbering  home- 
liness of  Golding." 

A  review  of  plays  according  to  classification  reveals  how  various 
were  the  sources,  and  how  large  a  part  translation  played.  Not 
only  did  men  like  Golding  and  Stanyhurst  produce  huge  volumes 
of  translation,  but  these  volumes  were  reflected  in  the  criticism 
as  well  as  in  the  drama  of  the  age. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  25 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Rise  of  Opera,  and  Plays  with  Classic  Titles  between 

1642  and  1700. 

The  history  of  Restoration  Drama  has  no  place  in  this  study; 
yet  a  survey  of  the  field  before  the  closing  of  the  theatres  is  in- 
complete without  a  glance  at  the  plays  which  followed.  There- 
fore, I  have  crossed  the  boundaries  of  the  Elizabethan  period  to 
follow  drama  as  far  as  the  year  1700.  Stage  history  is  by  no 
means  silent  in  regard  to  the  years  across  the  bridge  from  Eliza- 
bethan to  Restoration  England.  In  the  first  place,  Langbaine 
tells  us  that  at  the  Red  Bull  Playhouse,  Robert  Cox's  "  Drolls 
and  Farces  such  as  Actceon  and  Diana  were  allowed  to  be  given 
under  the  Colour  of  Rope-dancing,  by  stealth  and  the  connivance 
of  those  straight  lac'd  Governors."1  Indeed,  dancing  had  not 
been  prohibited  by  Parliamentary  Ordinance,  and  besides  these 
drolls  and  farces,  masques  continued  to  be  given  in  private,  while 
we  have  record  of  the  presentation  of  at  least  one  masque  in 
November  1651,  at  the  Middle  Temple.  "The  proceedings  were 
opened  with  the  Hundredth  Psalm  sung  by  the  Benchers  in  the 
Hall,  after  which  these  reverend  Seniors  having  drunk  a  cup  of 
hypocras,  retired  to  their  chambers,  and  began  to  recreate  them- 
selves with  civil  dancing,  and  had  melodious  music.  Ladies  and 
persons  of  quality  were  present  as  spectators,  though  they  do  not 
appear  to  have  shared  in  the  display."2  Meanwhile,  Sir  William 
Davenant,  long  since  Ben  Jonson's  successor  as  poet-laureate, 
after  exile  in  France  and  many  adventures  abroad,  had  returned 
to  England,  and  had  managed   to  obtain  from  Cromwell  permis- 

1  Langbaine  :  An  Account  of  the  English  Dramatic  Poets,  1691,  p.  89. 
Also  Kirkman's  preface  to  The  Wits,  or  Sport  upon  Sport  1672.  The  best 
account  of  the  period,  however,  is  Wright's  Historia  Histrionica,  published 
in  Dodsley's  Old  English  Plays,  Vol.  XV.     1876. 

2  Gardiner:  History  of  the  Commonwealth  and  Protectorate,  1897,  Vol. 
II,  pp.  11,  12. 


26  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

sion  to  produce  his  Entertainment  at  Rutland  House,  on  May  23, 
1656.1  He  called  the  piece  an  "opera,"  and  it  was  described  as 
"an  entertainment  by  music  and  declamation  after  the  manner 
of  the  ancients. "  It  was  really  not  "opera"  at  all,  but  by  means 
of  the  new  name  the  opprobrious  term  "stage-play"  was  avoided. 
Davenant  was,  nevertheless,  truly  interested  in  the  opera,  and, 
the  same  year  and  in  the  same  place,  he  produced  the  First  Part 
of  the  Siege  of  Rhodes,  "made  a  Representation  by  the  Art  of 
Prospective  Scenes,  and  the  Story  Sung  in  Recitative  Music."2 
This  was  a  novelty  on  the  English  stage,  as  Davenant  announces 
in  the  preface  to  the  first  edition.  He  says  of  it  that  "being  reci- 
tative, "  it  is  "unpractised  here,  though  of  great  reputation  among 
other  nations."  Two  years  later,  Davenant  produced  at  The 
Cockpit  in  Drury  Lane  an  entertainment  similar  to  The  Siege  of 
of  Rhodes,  The  Cruelties  of  the  Spaniards  in  Peru;  and  in  1659  he 
produced  The  History  of  Sir  Francis  Drake*  Early  in  the  year 
1660,  a  license  was  obtained  for  the  opening  of  the  theatre  at 
Blackfriars;4  a  number  of  actors  soon  formed  themselves  into  a 

1  Calendar  of  State  Papers  Domestic,  1655-56,  p.  396.  Account  of  Sir 
Wm.  Davenant's  opera.  The  bills  are  entitled  "  The  entertainment  by 
music  and  declamation  after  the  manner  of  the  ancients."  Scene,  Athens. 
They  began  at  the  Charter  House  23  May  1656  at  5  s.  a  head;  400  persons 
expected  but  only  150  came.  The  personages  were  Diogenes,  who  spoke 
against,  and  Aristophanes  for,  the  Opera;  then  citizens  of  London  and  Paris 
discussing  the  effects  of  each  other's  cities,  in  buildings,  manners,  diet,  etc. 
The  Londoner  has  the  better  of  it,  and  ends  with  describing  a  scene  in  which 
two  crocheteurs  of  Paris  sink  down  under  their  heavy  burden  before  they  will 
cease  a  contest  in  which  each  wished  to  give  the  other  the  way.  The  music 
was  in  a  covered  place  and  concerted,  ending  with  new  songs  relating  to  the 
Victor  (the  Protector),  the  last,  deriding  Paris,  ended — 

And  though  a  ship  her  scutcheon  be 
Yet  Paris  hath  no  ship  at  sea. 

Henry  Lawes  and  Dr.  Coleman  composed  the  songs,  Capt.  Cook,  Ned  Cole- 
man and  his  wife,  and  others  sang  them.  It  lasted  i}4  hours  and  is  to  con- 
tinue 10  days.  June  26,  1656."  The  text  of  the  entertainment  is  in  Maid- 
ment  and  Logan's  Works  of  William  Davenant:   Vol.  III. 

2See  The  Siege  of  Rhodes  in  the  Belles-Lettres  Series,  edited  by  Jas.  W.Tupper. 

3  Ward,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  282,  283. 

4  John  Genest:  Some  Account  of  the  English  Stage  from  1660-1832.  Vol. 
I.  p.  30. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  27 

company  at  the  Red  Bull ;  a  third  began  to  act  at  Salisbury  Court 
in  Whitef riars  j1  while  on  July  19,  1660,  King  Charles  II  issued  a 
license  to  "Thomas  Killigrew  *  *  *  and  Sir  William  Davenant 
to  erect  two  playhouses  in  places  approved  by  the  Surveyor  of 
Works,  to  control  the  charges  to  be  demanded,  and  the  payments 
to  actors,  etc.,  and  absolutely  suppressing  all  other  playhouses."* 
These  companies  came  to  be  The  King's  (Killigrew's) ,  and  the 
Duke's  (Davenant's).  The  last  clause  of  the  warrant,  calling 
for  the  suppression  of  all  other  playhouses,  was  afterwards  super- 
seded by  a  license  on  December  24,  1660,  to  a  certain  George 
Jolly,  "to  erect  a  theatre  for  performances  of  such  plays  as  are 
free  from  all  profanity  or  obscenity,  notwithstanding  any  former 
grant  to  Thos.  Killigrew  or  Sir  Wm.  Davenant."3 

During  his  banishment,  Charles's  fondness  for  the  stage  was 
gratified,  and  we  are  told4  that  his  son,  afterwards  the  Duke  of 
Monmouth,  took  part  six  times  in  Paris,  in  a  masque  and  comedy 
called  "  The  Nuptials  of  Peleus  and  Thetis."  The  masque  was  by 
a  French  author  and  was  given  in  French,  but  it  was  translated 
in  1654,  by  James  Howell,  the  letter  writer  whose  correspondence 
has  afforded  so  much  interesting  information  concerning  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Precieuses  and  Platonists  upon  the  English  Court 
at  that  time.5 

Meanwhile,  the  number  of  plays  in  English  was  being  augment- 
ed by  translation.  During  his  chequered  career  as  a  soldier  in 
Flanders,  Christopher  Wase  translated  the  Electra  of  Sophocles, 
presenting  it  to  the  Lady  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Charles  I,  and 
wife  of  the  Palatinate  in  Germany.     It  was  printed  at  the  Hague, 


*Lowe:  Betterton.      1888.     p.  19.     See  also  Ward:   Vol.  Ill,  pp.  280-285. 

2  Calendar  of  State  Papers,  Domestic,  1660-61,  p.  124. 

3  Ibid,  p.  423.  In  the  Cat.  State  Papers,  p.  188,  there  is  an  item  for  August 
12,  1660,  in  which  "Attorney-General  Palmer  writes  to  the  King  that  he  did 
not  object  to  the  warrants  for  Mr.  Killigrew  and  Sir  Wm.  Davenant,  but 
thought  it  is  a  matter  rather  for  toleration  than  for  a  grant  under  the  Great 
Seal."  Lowe  in  his  Life  of  Betterton,  pp.  31-48,  gives  an  account  of  the  op- 
position to  the  King's  grant  and  the  quarrel  which  ensued  between  Killigrew 
and  Davenant  and  Sir  Henry  Herbert,  Master  of  the  Revels. 

4  Maidment  and  Logan's  Crowne,  Vol.  I,  pp.  223,  224. 

5  J.  B.  Fletcher:  Precieuses  at  the  Court  of  Charles  I,  in  Journal  of  Compara- 
tive Literature,  Vol.  I.  Also  A.  H.  Upham:  French  Influence  in  English 
Literature,  1908,  Chapter  viii. 


28  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

in  1649.  Wase  was  the  dramatist  whom  Evelyn  found  so  excel- 
lent in  learning  and  so  entirely  worthy  of  the  kindness  which  he 
bestowed  upon  him.  Evelyn  tells  how  he  found  him  "miser- 
able in  Paris,"  and,  paying  his  expenses  back  to  England,  "clad 
and  provided  for  him  till  he  should  find  some  better  conditions."1 
In  contrast  with  Wase,  another  translator,  Sir  William  Lower, 
"found  peace  and  privacy"  in  his  wanderings  from  "the  heat  of 
Civil  Wars."  Langbaine2  says  that  he  "took  Sanctuary  in  Hol- 
land," there  to  enjoy  the  "society  of  the  Muses,"  and  that  we 
are  indebted  to  him  for  "six  plays, "  among  them,  one  on  a  classic 
subject,  the  Horatius  of  Corneille,  1656.3  Five  years  before  this 
the  Hippolytus  of  Seneca  had  been  translated  by  John  Priest- 
wich  "in  rhyme,  with  comments  on  every  scene"  and  recommen- 
datory verses  by  Shirley,  Cotton  and  others.4  Drama  was  there- 
fore kept  alive  by  English  writers  abroad,  as  well  as  by  enter- 
tainments with  innocuous  names  at  home.  Moreover,  by  the 
time  the  theatres  were  re-opened  a  new  variety,  opera,  had  been 
introduced. 

The  First  Part  of  the  Siege  of  Rhodes,  as  it  was  given  at  Rut- 
land House  in  1656,  marks  the  course  which  opera  was  to  take 
in  England.  In  his  introduction,  Davenant  says  that  the  scenes 
had  been  designed  by  Mr.  John  Web,  that  the  "musick  was  com- 
posed, and  both  the  vocal  and  instrumental  exercis'd  by  the  most 
transcendent  of  England  in  the  art;"  that  it  is  recitative  and  there- 
fore "unpractised  here;"  that  the  story  is  "heroicall"  and  con- 
vey'd  to  advance  the  characters  of  vertue  in  the  shapes  of  valour 
and  conjugal  love;  and  that  he  has  altered  the  "measures"  of 
his  verse  in  a  manner  necessary  to  the  recitative  music  and  the 
airs.  The  scenery  consists  of  an  "ornament  to  encompass  the 
scenes;"  the  acts  or  "Entrees"  are  introduced  by  instrumental 
music;  and  the  chorus  concludes  each  act.  The  novelties,  then, 
were  recitative  music,  rhyme  to  fit  the  music,  and  heroic  love  as 
the  subject.     Music  and  the  "setting"  by  an  Architect  long  as- 

1  John  Evelyn:  Diary  and  Correspondence.  Edited  by  Wm.  Bray,  1906, 
Vol.  II,  pp.  35  and  236. 

2  Langbaine,  pp.  332~334- 

3  Besides  six  printed  plays,  three  are  extant  in  MS.     See  D.  N.  B. 

4  Hazlitt's  Manual,  p.  107. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  29 

sociated  with  Inigo  Jones  are  characteristic  of  the  16th  century 
masque.  The  idea  of  recitative  music  Davenant  found  in  Italian 
opera,  and  he  is  not  altogether  accurate  in  claiming  that  this  is 
new  to  England.  Years  earlier,  in  161 7,  Nicolo  Laniere  had  set 
to  music  Ben  Jonson's  Lovers  Made  Men,  the  entire  masque  being 
sung  in  Stilo  recitativo,  after  the  Italian  manner.1  This  is,  however, 
an  isolated  example.  The  idea  of  rhyme  came  from  French 
drama,  perhaps;  yet  the  greater  part  of  masques  and  pastorals, 
even  in  the  Elizabethan  age,  had  been  written  in  rhymed  verse. 
It  was  only  a  step  to  the  shorter  lines  to  suit  the  airs.2  As  for 
the  *  'story,"  with  its  theme  of  heroic  love,  that,  too,  developed 
naturally  enough  out  of  the  later  romantic  drama  of  the  age  of 
Elizabeth.3  Thus,  early  English  opera  was  a  natural  outcome  of 
masque  and  decadent  romantic  drama,  and  when  Charles  II  and 
his  court  returned  in  1660,  they  did  not  bring  opera,  but  found 
it  at  home.  It  was  not  until  April,  1673,  that  Lulli  and  Quin- 
ault  produced  Cadmus  and  Hermione,  the  first  true  French  opera.4 
The  influence  of  Lulli  and  Quinault  necessarily  reached  England, 
but  more  in  the  way  of  subjects  for  plays,  mechanical  devices  for 
amplification  of  stage  scenery,  new  dances,  than  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  music  or  the  theory  of  the  opera.5    The  greatest 

1  Grove:    Dictionary  of  Music  and  Musicians,  1907. 

2  Indeed,  many  of  the  masques,  as,  for  example,  Jonson's  Hue  and  Cry 
after  Cupid,  had  contained  short  lines  in  rhymed  verse.  Mr.  Gosse  goes  so 
far  as  to  say  that  rhymed  dramatic  verse  "was  the  only  course  that  it  was 
possible  to  take,  for  the  blank  iambics  of  the  romantic  dramatists  had  become 
so  execrably  weak  and  distended,  the  whole  movement  of  dramatic  verse  had 
grown  so  flaccid,  that  a  little  restraint  in  the  severe  limits  of  rhyme  was  ab- 
solutely necessary."     Seventeenth  Century  Studies,  1897,  pp.  264,  265. 

3  Schelling:  Elizabethan  Drama,  Vol.  II,  pp.  348-352  and  the  notes,  es- 
pecially that  on  p.  350,  referring  to  the  paper  of  Prof.  C.  G.  Child  on  the 
Rise  of  the  Heroic  Play,  Mod.  Lang.  Notes,  Vol.  XIX,  pp.  166-173. 

4  Les  FStes  de  V Amour  et  de  Bacchus,  with  which  Lulli  opened  his  "opera" 
in  the  rue  Vaugirard  in  the  previous  November  is  described  as  a  ballet  differ- 
ing very  little  from  those  which  had  long  been  popular.  (See  Lavoix:  La 
Musique  Francaise,  pp.  99,  100).  For  the  opera  in  France,  see  Professor 
Schelling's  chapter  on  Restoration  Drama  in  the  latest  volume  of  the  Cam- 
bridge History  of  Literature. 

6  See  Grove's  Dictionary:  Lulli.  Matthew  Locke  was  the  one  writer  of 
English  opera  who  modelled  his  work  as  closely  as  possible  after  Lulli.  His 
most  important  composition  was  the  music  for  Shadwell's  Tempest. 


30  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

musician  in  17th  Century  England,  Henry  Purcell,  was  distinctly 
English  in  his  training  and  in  his  art,1  and  it  is  unfortunate  that 
his  Dido  and  Mneas,  written  in  1580,  should  remain  an  isolated 
example  of  truly  English  opera,  "the  whole  of  the  libretto  being 
set  in  recitative,  solos,  duets,  and  choruses."2  Only  a  few  of 
the  musical  dramas  of  the  time  pretended  to  be  operas.  Many 
of  them  were  translations,  with  the  addition  of  dances  and  chorus- 
es; many  were  revivals  of  Elizabethan  plays  with  added  "scenes 
and  machines,"  while  masques  remained  in  favor. 

There  is  very  little  difference  between  the  opera  as  Davenant 
described  it  in  the  Siege  of  Rhodes  and  Dryden's  definition  in  the 
introduction  to  Albion  and  Albanius,  almost  thirty  years  later. 
He  says,  in  1685,  that  opera  is  "a  poetic  tale  or  fiction,  repre- 
sented by  vocal  and  instrumental  music,  adorned  with  scenes, 
machines  and  dancing.  The  supposed  persons  of  the  musical 
drama  are  generally  supernatural,  as  gods  and  goddesses  and 
heroes.  The  subject,  therefore,  being  extended  beyond  the 
limits  of  human  nature,  admits  of  that  sort  of  marvellous  and 
surprising  conduct,  which  is  rejected  in  other  plays.  *  *  * 
Meaner  persons  may  sometimes  be  gracefully  introduced, 
especially  if  they  have  relation  to  those  first  times,  which  poets 
call  the  Golden  Age;  *  *  *  and,  therefore,  Shepherds  might 
reasonably  be  admitted  as  of  all  callings  the  most  innocent, 
the  most  happy,  and  who,  by  the  spare  time  they  had,  had 
most  leisure  to  make  verses,  and  to  be  in  love;  without  some- 
what of  which  passion,  no  opera  can  possibly  subsist."3  Even 
here  one  finds  nothing  extraneous  to  the  16th  Century  masque. 


1  Purcell's  earliest  teachers  had  been  his  father  and  his  uncle,  Thomas  Pur- 
cell, two  gentlemen  of  the  Chapel  Royal,  who  had  sung  at  the  coronation  of 
Charles  II.  He  became  one  of  the  children  of  the  Chapel  Royal  at  six  years 
old,  where  his  teachers  were  Dr.  Blow,  and  Captain  Cooke,  the  famous  old 
"coxcombe, "  according  to  Pepys.  Purcell's  composition  began  very  early 
and  the  list  of  his  works  is  long,  including  much  of  our  most  beautiful  church 
music.  His  life  and  work  have  been  described  by  Wm.  H.  Cummings  in 
The  Great  Musician  Series  1881. 

*  For  an  account  of  this  opera,  see  Cumming's  Purcell,  pp.  32,  33.  The 
words  were  written  by  Nahum  Tate. 

*  Preface  to  Albion  and  Albanius:  Works,  edited  by  Scott  and  Saints- 
bury,  1 882-1 893,  Vol.  VII. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  31 

The  dancing  has  become  subservient  to  the  "tale"  which  must 
be  "represented"  by  music.  Thus,  instead  of  a  "setting  for 
a  dance"  we  have  the  development  of  a  heroic  story  of  love  by 
means  of  music.  But  the  opera,  like  the  masque,  is  "adorned" 
with  scenes,  and  the  personages,  like  those  of  the  masque, 
must  be  either  more  than  life-sized  or  artificial.  Recitative 
is  not  insisted  upon  and  the  dancing  is  incidental.  The  ele- 
ments of  the  masque  remain;  the  emphasis  has  changed.  The 
change  from  a  setting  for  a  ball  to  a  public  performance  is  a 
popularization,  and  yet  the  audience  is  not  very  different,  for 
while  the  Sixteenth  Century  Masque  was  so  expensive  as  to  be 
given  only  at  Court  or  in  private  houses,  the  seventeenth 
Century  opera  was  attended  largely  by  the  nobility.  It  be- 
longed, not  to  the  people,  but  to  the  fashionable.  There  was 
no  opera-house,  but  Davenant  made  The  Duke's  Theatre  as 
nearly  as  possible  adapted  to  operatic  performances.  This 
Dryden  ridicules  in  the  Prologue  spoken  at  the  opening  of  the 
New  Theatre  in  Drury  Lane  on  March  26,  1674: 

'Twere  folly  now  a  stately  pile  to  raise, 

To  build  a  playhouse,  while  you  throw  down  plays; 

While  scenes,  machines,  and  empty  operas  reign, 

And  for  the  pencil  you  the  pen  disdain!1 

Yet  Dryden  himself  fell  before  the  temptations  offered  by  the 
opera.  In  his  Epistle  Dedicatory  to  his  King  Arthur,  1691,  he 
writes:  "There  is  nothing  better,  than  what  I  intended,  than 
the  Musick;  which  has  since  arriv'd  to  a  greater  perfection  in 
England,  than  ever  formerly,  especially  passing  through  the  art- 
ful hands  of  Mr.  Purcell.  *  *  *  But  the  numbers  of  poetry  and 
vocal  musick,  are  sometimes  so  contrary,  that  in  many  places  I 
have  been  obliged  to  cramp  my  Verses,  and  make  them  rugged  to 
the  reader,  that  they  may  be  harmonious  to  the  hearer;  of  which 
I  have  no  reason  to  repent  me,  because  these  sorts  of  entertain- 
ments are  principally  design'd  for  the  ear  and  the  eye,  and  there- 
fore, in  reason,  my  art  on  this  occasion  ought  to  be  subservient 
to  his." 

Shad  well  had  been  a  victim  long  before.  In  the  introduction 
to  his  Psyche,  produced  at  the  Duke's  Theatre  in  Dorset  Gardens 
in  1674,  he  writes:  "  In  a  thing  written  in  five  weeks,  as  this  was, 


1  Works:  Vol.  X,  p.  320. 


32  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

there  must  needs  be  errours,  which  I  desire  true  critics  to  pass  by 
and  which,  perhaps,  I  see  myself,  but  having  much  business,  and 
indulging  myself  with  some  pleasure  too,  I  have  not  had  leisure 
to  mend  them;  nor  would  it  indeed  be  worth  the  pains,  since 
there  are  so  many  splendid  objects  in  the  play,  and  such  variety 
of  diversion,  as  will  not  give  the  audience  leave  to  mind  the 
writing;  and  I  doubt  not,  but  the  candid  reader  will  forgive  the 
faults,  when  he  considers  that  the  great  design  was  to  entertain 
the  town  with  variety  of  music,  curious  dancing,  splendid  scenes, 
and  machines;  and  that  I  do  not,  nor  ever  did  intend,  to  value 
myself  upon  the  writing  of  this  play."  Since  these  had  come  to 
be  the  methods  and  ideas  of  the  playwright,  no  wonder  that  the 
critic,  John  Dennis,  should  have  complained  that  opera  had  every- 
where driven  out  poetry,1  or  that  another  writer  of  the  end  of  the 
century,  Charles  Gildon,  should  have  contrasted  the  audiences 
he  knew  with  the  ancients  in  no  faltering  terms:  "We  are  for 
making,"  he  says,2  "the  Scenes  of  our  Plays,  the  Field  of  Battle, 
a  Siege,  a  Camp,  etc.,  where,  whatever  we  do  else,  we  are  sure  to 
keep  the  Audience  awake  with  our  Drums  and  Trumpets,  and 
make  them  laugh  with  our  Battles  and  Rencounters  on  the  Stage, 
when  they  ought  to  be  more  concern'd.  The  Ancients  never,  as 
I  can  remember,  chose  such  noisy  opportunities  of  perverting 
the  end  they  purpos'd  in  their  Tragedies,  viz.,  the  moving  Terror 
and  Compassion,  which  can  never  be  touch 'd  where  such  tumul- 
tuary objects  come  in  view. " 

It  is  evident  that  classic  myth  must  have  been  a  favorite  sub- 
ject for  musical  drama.  One  need  only  review  the  descrip- 
tion of  Dryden3  to  realize  that  the  gods  and  goddesses,  with  their 

1  John  Dennis:  An  Essay  on  the  Italian  Operas,  printed  in  1706.  See 
Select  Works  of  Mr.  John  Dennis  1718,  Vol.  i,  p.  455. 

"That  poetry  is  like,  from  the  progress  of  Musick,  to  have  the  same  fate 
in  England,  that  it  met  with  in  France  and  Italy,  we  have  very  good  reason 
to  believe;  when  we  consider  that  of  late  years,  they  who  have  had  some  Talent 
for  writing,  have,  for  the  most  part  still  writ  worse  and  worse;  and  when  that 
which  has  been  well  written,  has  been  worse  received  by  our  Audiences;  when 
those  Audiences  will  hardly  suffer  a  Play  that  is  not  interlarded  with  Singing 
and  Dancing,  whereas  these  are  becoming  Theatrical  Entertainments  with- 
out anything  of  the  Drama." 

2  Introduction  to  Phaeton  or  The  Fatal  Divorce  1696. 

3  Page  30,  above. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  33 

loves  and  hates  and  romantic  adventures,  must  have  been  fitting 
subjects,  inviting,  as  they  did,  all  the  accessories  of  scenery  and 
dancing,  and  music.  Besides,  there  was  the  precedent  of  classic 
tragedy.  In  the  years  between  1642  and  1700,  I  find  twenty-six 
plays  with  classic  titles  on  twenty-one  different  themes,  almost 
all  of  them  the  same  as  those  of  the  Elizabethan  period.  Of  these 
plays,  nine  are  translations,  with  or  without  the  addition  of  music 
and  dancing;  seven  are  called  either  operas  or  masques  or  "plays 
set  to  music;"  six  are  described  as  tragedies;  three  as  "burles- 
ques;"1 one  is  a  comedy,  and  one,  Ariadne  or  the  Marriage  of 
Bacchus,2  is  a  miserable,  nondescript  production,  classic  only  in 
name.  At  least  half  of  the  twenty-six  plays  were  accompanied 
by  music  and  most  of  them  were  in  rhyme. 

Of  the  nine  translations,  three3  were  from  the  Horace  of  Cor- 
neille.  The  first,  that  of  Sir  William  Lower,4  has  already  been 
mentioned.  Langbaine  excuses  it  for  "having  fallen  short"  of 
the  other  two  by  its  being  earlier.  Charles  Cotton's  attempt5 
was  adorned  with  songs  and  choruses;  but  it  was  the  play  of  "The 
Matchless  Orinda,"  Mrs.  Katherine  Phillips,  which  gained  the 
applause  and  enthusiasm  of  the  time.  Orinda  died  before  the 
play  was  completed,  and  Sir  John  Denham6  demanded  the  honor 
of  writing  the  fifth  act.  Evelyn  saw  the  play  "acted  before  both 
their  Maties,  'Twixt  each  act  a  masq  and  antiq  daunce."  He 
speaks  of  the  "infinite"  and  "excessive  gallantry"  of  the  ladies, 
and  estimates  Lady  Castelmaine's  finery  at  £40,ooo.7  In  a 
delightful  essay,8  Mr.  Edmund  Gosse  has  described  the  career  of 

1  The  Burlesques  are  the  Mock  Thyestes  of  John  Wright  (See  Baker's  Bio- 
graphia  Dramatica,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  337;  Venus  and  Adonis;  Psyche  Debauch' d 
by  D'Urfey.  This  is  "A  mass  of  low  scurrility  and  abuse,  without  either  wit 
or  humor."    (See  Biographia  Dramatica.) 

2  This  was  by  Perrin,  and  was  sung  on  Jan.  5,  1673-4,  where  Evelyn  saw  it. 
W.  J.  Lawrence,  in  an  article  in  Anglia  for  1909,  thinks  it  was  at  that  time 
sung  in  French. 

3  Six  of  these  translations  are  mentioned  in  the  pages  following.  The  re- 
maining three  have  been  mentioned  on  pp.  27  and  28,  above. 

4  Above,  p.  28. 

6  According  to  the  Term  Catalogue,  the  quarto  of  this  play  appeared  in  1671. 

6  Author  of  the  poem,  Cooper's  Hill.     See  D.  N.  B. 

7  Diary  and  Correspondence  of  John  Evelyn,  Vol.  II,  p.  229. 

8  Edmund  Gosse:    Seventeenth  Century  Studies,  1897. 


34  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

"Orinda, "  the  woman  so  celebrated  for  half  a  century  in  England. 
We  are  startled  to  find  that  her  name  was  once  mentioned  with 
Sappho  and  Corinne,  in  language  "which  might  have  seemed  a 
little  fulsome  if  addressed  to  the  Muse  herself,"  so  dark  is  the 
oblivion  into  which  she  has  fallen.  Mr.  Gosse  says  that  her 
memory  is  worthy  of  a  "judicious  revival,"  for,  "if  she  sinned 
against  poetry  as  we  understand  it,  much  may  be  forgiven  her, 
for  she  loved  it  much."1 

The  tragedies  of  Andromache  given,  according  to  Genest,  at 
the  Duke's  Theatre  in  1675,  and  Achilles  or  Iphigenia  in  Aulis, 
acted  at  the  King's  Theatre  in  1699,  were  both  translations  from 
Racine.  Of  the  former  Genest  says,  that  prose  and  verse  were 
mingled  "in  the  most  ridiculous  way  in  the  world."  The  play, 
written  partly  by  Crowne,  "was  evidently  patched  up  in  a  hurry" 
and  was  "a  contemptible  production."2  Achilles  was  written  by 
Abel  Boyer,  and  followed  Racine  except  in  the  fifth  act  where 
Eriphile,  contrary  to  the  custom  of  the  French  Theatre,  kills  her- 
self in  the  sight  of  the  audience.3  The  revolting  tragedy  of 
Thyestes  was  translated  from  Seneca  by  John  Wright  in  1674,  and, 
except  the  choruses,  was  written  in  heroics.  Seven  years  later 
the  same  subject  was  chosen  by  Crowne  in  a  play  which  only  par- 
tially followed  the  gruesome  myth  as  revealed  by  Seneca.  This 
was  apparently  well  received  by  the  audience.4 

The  most  popular  of  the  operas  on  classic  subject  was  the 
Psyche  of  the  much  abused  Shad  well.  This  was  given  at  the 
Duke's  Theatre  in  Dorset  Gardens.  Downes  says  of  it:  "In 
February  1673,5  the  long  expected  opera  of  Psyche  came  forth  in 
all  her  ornaments;  new  Scenes,  new  Machines,  new  Cloaths,  new 
French  Dances.  This  Opera  was  splendidly  set  out,  especially 
in  Scenes,  the  charge  of  which  amounted  to  above  800I.  It  had 
a  continuous  performance  of  about  8  days  together;  it  proved 
very  beneficial  to  the  Company.  "6    As  to  the  sources  of  the  play, 

Mbid:   p.  255. 

2  Genest:  Vol.  I,  pp.  178,  179. 
'Ibid:   Vol.  II,  pp.  167,  168. 

4  See  Introduction  to  Maidment  and  Logan's  Works  of  John  Crowne,  Vol. 
II. 
*  1674  new  style.     See  Genest,  Vol.  I,  p.  163. 
6  See  the  Roscius  Anglicanus  by  Downes. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  35 

Shadwell  says  in  the  Preface:  "That  I  have  borrowed  it  from  the 
French  can  only  be  the  objection  of  those  who  do  not  know  that 
it  is  a  Fable  written  by  Apuleius  in  his  Golden  Ass,  where  you 
will  find  most  things  in  this  play  and  the  French  too."  Never- 
theless, most  of  the  situations  are  from  Moliere's  Psyche?  to  which 
it  is,  however,  very  inferior.  The  greatest  "Masters  in  Musick, 
Dancing,  and  Painting  were  concern'd  in  it;"2  yet  this  is  the  play 
of  which  Swinburne  wrote  that  "nothing  more  portentous  in 
platitude  ever  crawled  into  print."3 

In  1675,  John  Crowne's  Calisto  or  the  Chaste  Nymph  was  given 
at  Court.  This  masque  was  written  for  the  daughters  of  the 
Duke  of  Monmouth,  and  it  was  dedicated  to  the  Princess,  after- 
wards Queen  Mary,  in  studied  phrases  rich  in  flattery.  The 
production  should  have  fallen  to  Dryden,  but,  through  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Earl  of  Rochester,  it  was  assigned  to  Crowne. 
This  was  his  great  opportunity  and  he  felt  the  dignity  of  the 
occasion.4  The  Duke  of  Monmouth,5  as  well  as  his  daughters, 
took  part.  In  the  preface  Crowne  writes  of  the  "singing,  danc- 
ing, music,  of  which  all  were  in  the  highest  perfection"  and  of 
the  "most  graceful  action,  incomparable  beauty  and  splendid 
habit  of  the  Princesses."  He  says  that  the  entertainment  has 
been  "followed  at  innumerable  rehearsals"  and  all  "the  repre- 
sentations by  throngs  of  people  of  the  greatest  quality;  and 
very  often  graced  by  their  Royal  Highnesses."6 

Not  only  was  Calisto  taken  originally  from  Ovid,  but  the  Meta- 
morphoses furnished  the  themes  for  a  number  of  other  musical 

1  Given  in  1671  before  Louis  XIV  at  the  Tuileries. 

2  Shadwell  says  in  the  Preface:  "All  the  Instrumental  Musick  was  com- 
posed by  the  great  Master,  Signior  Gio.  Baptista  Draghi,  Master  of  Italian 
Musick  to  the  King.  The  Dances  were  made  by  the  most  famous  Master 
of  France,  Monsieur  St.  Andree.  The  Scenes  were  painted  by  the  ingenious 
Artist,  Mr.  Stephenson.  In  those  things  that  concern  the  Ornament  or  Deco- 
ration of  the  Play,  the  great  Industry  of  Mr.  Betterton  ought  to  be  remember- 
ed." 

3  Swinburne:   Age  of  Shakespeare,  pp.  222,  223. 

4  One  "who  knew  the  bards  and  theatres  of  Charles  IPs  reign"  writes: 
"We  call'd  him  starch'd  little  Johnny  Crowne  from  the  stiff,  unalterable 
primness  of  his  long  cravat."     The  Gentleman's  Magazine,  February  1745. 

5  See  his  acting  in  Peleus  and  Thetis,  p.  27,  above. 

6  Works  by  Maidment  and  Logan,  Vol.  i,  p.  236. 


36  Classic  Myth  of  the  Poetic  Drama 

plays  of  the  time.  Among  these  was  the  Circe  of  Dr.  Charles 
Davenant,  recorded  in  the  Term  Catalogue  under  the  date  1677. 
The  author  was  the  son  of  Sir  William  Davenant  and  for  a  very- 
short  time,  he  succeeded  his  father  as  manager  of  "the  Duke's 
Company."  At  its  first  production  the  music  of  the  opera  was 
written  by  John  Banister,  who  was  at  one  time  leader  of  King 
Charles's  band;1  but  at  a  later  production,  the  music  seems  to 
have  been  furnished  by  Henry  Purcell.2  There  was  a  Prologue 
by  Dryden  and  an  Epilogue  by  the  Earl  of  Rochester.  Genest5 
gives  a  somewhat  full  account  of  the  play,  pointing  out  with  zest 
a  number  of  amusing  anachronisms.4  Nevertheless,  it  was  "well 
performed,  and  answered  the  expectations  of  the  Company." 
Doubtless  the  "scenes  and  machines"  which  gave  it  a  good  "title 
to  the  species  of  Dramatic  Poetry  called  an  Opera"5  furnished, 
together  with  the  music,  the  necessary  assistance  to  the  plot. 
This,  according  to  Genest,  "was  a  blessed  jumble."  The  opera 
was  but  a  "tour  de  force"  of  the  youthful  Davenant;  he  was 
only  nineteen  when  he  wrote  it.  Later,  he  became  a  "Doctor 
of  Physic"  and  entered  politics.6  So  far  as  we  know,  he  wrote 
no  more  plays.  The  Metamorphoses  was  also  the  source  of  the 
three  masques,  Hercules,  The  Loves  of  Mars  artd  Venus,  and 
Cynthia  and  Endimion,  which  appeared  at  the  very  end  of  the 
century,  each  with  music  by  the  most  celebrated  musicians. 
Hercules  is  the  third  act  of  The  Novelty:  Every  Act  a  Play, 
written  by  Mr.  Motteaux  and  other  hands,  and  "set  to  music" 
by  John  Eccles.  This  is  a  piece  of  sensational  nonsense.  The 
Loves  of  Mars  and  Venus  by  Mr.  Motteaux,  is  equally  thin.  Of 
the  Cynthia  and  Endimion  of  D'Urfey,  Genest  says,  "it  has  con- 
siderable merit  for  the  sort  of  thing,"  and  "if  the  queen  had 
lived,  it  was  to  have  been  brought  out  at  Court."7  The  sub- 
ject, the  loves  of  the  deities,  "gave  opportunity  for  beautiful 

1  See  D.  N.  B. 

2Cumming's  Purcell,  pp.  43,  44. 

3  Genest,  Vol.  i,  pp.  208,  209. 

4  He  is  especially  scornful  of  Circe's  allusion  to  "Churches  whom  no  Here- 
tics oppose." 

5Langbaine,  p.   116. 

6D.  N.  B. 

'Genest,  Vol.  ii,  pp.  no,  in. 


V 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  37 

scenes,  and  the  music  was  by  the  younger  Purcell.  I  have  not 
seen  the  play,  but  is  is  difficult  to  conceive  that  anything  written 
by  D'Urfey  could  have  any  literary  value. 

Of  the  six  so-called  tragedies,  Hero  and  Leander  by  Sir  Robert 
Stapleton,  1669,  was  founded  upon  the  poem  of  Musaeus,  but 
the  author  was  not  happy  in  the  "additions"  which  he  was  ob- 
liged to  make  in  following  so  simple  a  story.  Nevertheless,  Lang- 
baine1 . assures  us  that  Stapleton's  name  "rests  in  the  Temple  of 
Immortality."  The  Destruction  of  Troy  by  John  Banks  was 
given  at  the  Duke's  Theatre  and  printed  in  1679.  Genest  says2 
that  "some  of  the  speeches  set  burlesque  at  defiance,"  but  Lang- 
baine  is  more  magnanimous.  "How  unkind  soever  the  criticks 
were  to  it,"  he  says,  "I  believe  they  have  seen  worse  tragedies 
on  the  stage."3  Crowne's  Thyestes4  has  already  been  mentioned. 
Phaeton  or  the  Fatal  Divorce  by  Charles  Gildon,  1698,  is  one  of 
the  most  audacious  productions  of  the  end  of  the  century.  The 
hero  of  this  play  is  the  son  of  Apollo  only  in  name.  He  is  in  reality 
an  effeminate  Jason  whose  love  for  Medea  has  grown  more  or  less 
cold  because  he  loves  another  lady  also;  he  finds  it  difficult  to 
choose  between  the  two.  Meanwhile  his  mother,  Clymene,  and 
the  family  friend,  Epaphus,  advise  him  to  abide  by  his  first  love, 
whose  name  is  not  Medea,  but  Althea.  Mother  and  friend, 
after  a  disgraceful  quarrel  with  Phaeton,  are  suddenly  reconciled 
to  his  point  of  view,  and  the  angry  Althea,  after  being  visited  by 
the  ghost  of  her  father  who  exhorts  her  to  revenge,  succeeds  in 
compassing  the  death  of  her  rival  by  means  of  a  poisoned  bridal 
robe.  Althea  dies  in  a  frenzy  of  passion  as  she  sees  the  final 
tragedy  wrought  by  her  power.  There  are  dances,  and  the  music 
is  by  the  younger  Purcell.5  No  stranger  degradation  of  a  noble 
theme  can  be  imagined  than  this  appropriation  of  the  powerful 
Medea  of  Euripides  to  satisfy  the  vulgar  taste  of  an  audience 
whose  pleasure  has  become  unthinking  and  debased. 


1Langbaine,  p.  491.     See  also  Ward,  Vol.  iii,  pp.  336,  337. 

2  Genest,  Vol.  ii,  p.  241. 

3  Langbaine,  p.  7. 

4  See  page  34,  above. 

6  For  Daniel  Purcell  and  his  work,  see  D.  N.  B.  and  Cummings'  Purcell,  pp. 
98-106. 


38  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

Inexpressibly  high  above  these  other  tragedies,  rises  the  CEdipus 
of  Dryden  and  Lee.  And  yet,  although  the  Greek  myth  has  been 
followed  closely  and  the  lines  often  show  power,  the  play  is  very 
terrible  because  of  the  bareness  of  its  horrors ;  it  does  not  follow 
the  classic  tradition.  The  only  play  that  remains  for  mention  is 
Dryden's  Amphytrion,  the  single  comedy  on  a  classic  theme. 
Here,  as  in  the  tragedies  of  the  time,  music  plays  an  important 
r^le.  Dryden  writes:  "What  has  been  wanting  on  my  part  has 
been  abundantly  supplied  by  the  excellent  composition  of  Mr. 
Purcell,1  in  whose  Person  we  have  at  length  found  an  Englishman 
equal  with  the  best  abroad."2  The  lines  of  Amphytrion  are  bril- 
liant, but  the  play  is  notoriously  licentious.3 

It  has  become  a  commonplace  that  the  literary  leader  of  the 
age  might  have  changed  the  history  of  Restoration  Drama  if,  in- 
stead of  "serving,"  he  had  been  great  enough  to  prove  a  worthy 
poet-laureate.  His  own  confessions  tell  how  he  was  led  to  dis- 
honour poetry  to  suit  the  fashion  of  the  hour;  and  the  brilliant 
comedy,  Amphytrion,  bears  testimony  to  his  stooping  to  dis- 
honour a  greater  than  poetry, — morality  itself.  Thus,  when 
English  drama  was  in  saddest  need  of  a  leader  to  call  it  back  "to 
the  traditions  of  its  own  past,"  that  leader  failed  to  answer, 
and  joined  with  the  others  in  inviting  foreign  example  to  take 
possession  of  an  art  that  had  become  weakened  and  warped. 
Moreover,  neither  the  spirit  of  French  classical  tragedy  for  which 
Corneille  and  Racine  had  fought,  nor  the  wit  of  Moliere  were 
transferred  to  England;  French  drama  was  merely  a  storehouse 
of  plots,  and  scenes,  and  characters,  and  a  pattern  for  material 
devices  to  hide  the  intellectual  poverty  of  the  age. 


1  Henry  Purcell. 

8  Preface  to  Amphytrion.     Works:    Vol.  viii. 

3  See  Brander    Matthews:     Molihre,   1910,  p.  236,  for    a  comparison  of 
Dryden's  play  with  Moliere's  comedy  on  the  same  theme. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  39 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Myth  of  (Enone  and  the  Arraignment  of  Paris,  by 
George  Peele. 

The  story  of  (Enone  has  been  made  familiar  by  Tennyson. 

There  lies  a  vale  in  Ida,  lovelier 
Than  all  the  valleys  of  Ionian  hills.1 

Here  "mournful  (Enone"  wandering  forlorn,  came  at  noon- 
time to  tell  how  Paris,  once  "her  play-mate  on  the  hills,"  he  who 
who  had  "sworn  his  love  a  thousand  times,"  had  scorned  her 
for  Helen,  "the  fairest  and  most  loving  wife  in  Greece,"  and 
(Enone  had  been  left  alone.     And  then  one  day,  as  she  sat 

Within  the  cave  from  out 

Whose  ivy-matted  mouth  she  used  to  gaze 

Down  at  the  Troad,8 

"her  Past  became  her  Present,  and  she  saw 

Him  climbing  toward  her  with  the  golden  fruit, 
Him,  happy  to  be  chosen  Judge  of  Gods, 
Her  husband  in  the  flush  of  youth  and  dawn, 
Paris  himself  as  beauteous  as  a  God. 

But  he  was  in  agony,  for  he  had  been  wounded  by  a  poisoned 
arrow,  and  had  come  to  her  for  healing.  She  could  not  forgive, 
and,  turning  away,  left  him  to  die.  Then,  crazed  by  remorse, 
she  lept  upon  the  funeral  pile  that  "loving  shepherds"  had  built 
for  his  body,  and  thus  "she  mixt  herself  with  him  and  past  in 
fire." 

From  the  land  of  Tennyson's  Ida,  where 

The  noonday  quiet  holds  the  hill 

and  (Enone  is  so  weary  of  her  life,  it  is  a  long  way  back  into  the 

1  Tennyson :     (Enone. 
'Tennyson:    The  Death  of  (Enone. 


40  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

far-away  dawn  of  myth  where  Aurora's  fingers  were  faintly 
touching  the  sky  with  the  fair  light  of  imagination.  In  the  dawn 
who  were  Paris  and  (Enone  and  Helen?  And  what  does  the 
story  mean?  By  Homer's  time,  (Enone  had  been  forgotten, 
and  Paris  and  Helen  had  come  to  be  personages,  the  dire  cause 
of  all  the  Trojan  War.  Nevertheless,  philology  shows  that  al- 
though the  names  of  Greek  gods  and  heroes  have  no  meaning  in 
the  Greek  language,  these  names  appear  also  in  Sanscrit  with 
plain  physical  meaning.1  In  the  Veda,  we  find  Zeus  or  Jupiter 
(Dyaus-pitar)  meaning  the  sky,  and  Sarameis  or  Hermes,  mean- 
ing the  breeze  of  a  summer  morning.  We  find  that  Athena  is 
the  light  of  day-break;  and  we  are  thus  enabled  to  understand 
why  the  Greeks  described  her  as  sprung  from  the  forehead  of  Zeus. 
In  the  Sanscrit,  Helen  is  the  fickle  twilight,  whom  the  Panis  or 
night-demons,  serving  as  prototypes  of  the  Hellenic  Paris,  strive 
to  seduce  from  her  allegiance  to  the  King,  the  Solar-monarch. 
Then  Paris  forsakes  (Enone,  "the  wine-colored  one,"  but  meets 
her  again  in  the  twilight,  "when  she  lays  herself  by  his  side  amid 
the  crimson  flames  of  the  funeral  pyre."2  Thus  the  myth  of 
(Enone  is,  like  all  myths,  "the  explanation  of  a  natural  phenom- 
enon." It  is  unnecessary  and  altogether  undesirable  to  enter 
into  the  well-trod  field  of  Homeric  authorship,  or  into  the  be- 
wildering paths  of  philology.  It  is  sufficent  to  remind  ourselves 
that  the  Iliad  myths  must  have  been  believed,  in  widely  separated 
lands,  wherever  Greek  and  Teuton  wandered,3  long  before  the 
fall  of  Troy. 

Although  the  myth  of  (Enone  does  not  appear  in  the  Iliad,  we 
are  told  that  it  has  a  place  in  the  Cypria*  a  poem  no  longer  ex- 
tant. The  Cypria  seemed  to  form  a  prelude  to  the  Iliad,  yet  it 
showed  a  philosophical  and  psychological  tendency  all  out  of 
keeping  with  so  early  and  simple  an  age.  It  was  probably  written 
later  than  Homer's  time,  later  also  than  the  poet  Stasius,  who  was 

1  For  this  discussion  of  the  early  myth,  I  have  followed  Sir  John  Cox's 
Mythology  of  the  Aryan  Nations  and  John  Fiske's  Myths  and  Myth-makers. 

1  John  Fiske:   Myths  and  Myth-makers,  Chapter  VI. 

*  For  a  comparison  of  the  myth  of  Paris  and  Helen  with  other  Aryan  myths, 
see  Cox's  Mythology  of  the  Aryan  Nations,  (1870),  Vol.  I,  pp.  63-65  and  Vol. 
II,  pp.  79-81. 

4  For  a  good  account  of  this  poem,  see  Larousse's  Dictionnaire. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  41 

long  supposed  to  be  its  author.  In  the  poem,  Jupiter  was  the 
father  of  Nemesis  and  Helen,  who  together  brought  evil  to  men, — 
Nemesis  in  sending  discord,  Helen,  because  of  her  fatal  beauty; 
and  here,  also,  as  the  cause  of  the  Trojan  War,  we  find  the  story 
of  the  promise  which  Venus  made  to  Paris  in  return  for  his  favor- 
able judgment.  The  myth  of  QEnone  appears  also  in  the  works 
of  Parthenius,  an  older  contemporary  of  Ovid.  He  apparently 
taught  Greek  to  Virgil,  although  his  name  is  associated  more 
closely  with  the  elegiac  poet,  Cornelius  Gallus,  for  whose  pleasure 
he  compiled,  from  the  ancient  poets,  a  collection  of  stories  con- 
cerning thirty-six  unhappy  lovers.  The  fourth  story1  tells  how 
the  shepherd  son  of  Priam  fell  in  love  with  OEnone,  daughter  of 
the  River  God,  Kedren,  on  Mount  Ida.  But  the  Shepherd  was 
fickle,  and  left  OEnone  for  Helen.  Then  (Enone  crept  far  away, 
but  she  had  told  her  unfaithful  lover  that  there  was  one  thing 
she  would  do  for  him, — heal  his  wounds.  One  day,  he  was  hurt 
by  a  poisoned  arrow.  He  went  to  seek  her;  but  she  could  not 
forgive  him  until  too  late,  and  then,  when  he  had  died,  she,  bro- 
ken-hearted, killed  herself,  TroAAa  KaTo\o<f>vxafi€VYj,  Svexpyvro  iavrrjv. 
Here  we  have  the  whole  story. 

Ovid,  in  whose  day  the  Cypria  was  perhaps  not  extant,  very 
probably  used  the  story  of  his  contemporary,  Parthenius,  for  the 
subject  of  several  of  the  Heroides,  a  series  of  letters  in  which  the 
familiar  heroines  of  Greek  tragedy  and  later  Greek  romance  express 
themselves  in  graceful  and  harmonious  verse.  One  of  the  most 
charming  of  the  Heroides1  is  the  epistle  of  (Enone  to  Paris.  Al- 
most two  hundred  years  after  Ovid's  time,  Lucian  wrote  his  Judg- 
ment of  Paris,  the  forty-first  of  his  Dialogues.  Lucian  merely  al- 
ludes to  (Enone,  and,  with  his  ironical  worldliness,  takes  the 
story  of  the  rival  goddesses  far  out  of  the  realm  of  myth.  This 
dialogue  of  Lucian  was  translated  by  Thomas  Hey  wood  in  1637, 
but  the  story  of  (Enone  and  Paris  had  already  been  translated 
by  Sir  George  Turbeville,  English  traveller  and  romanticist.  In 
1567,  he  published  in  English,  the  Her oy call  Epistles  of  the  learned 


1  Parthenii   Nicceensis   Narrationum   Amatoriarum.     C.    G.    Heyne,  Got- 
tingae,  1798,  pp.  9-1 1. 

2  For  possible  sources  of   Ovid's  Heroides   and   for   the  text,  see  Arthur 
Palmer  :  P.  Ovidi  Nasonis  Heroides.     Oxford,  1898. 


42  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

Poet,  Publius  Ovidius  Naso.  In  1568,  the  Stationers'  Register 
records  a  license  for  the  printing  of  a  "ballet  entitled  the  golden 
apple," — whether  or  not  the  fatal  "Apple  of  Discord"  we  may 
only  surmise.  Seven  years  after  Tuberville's  translation, 
George  Peek's  Arraignment  of  Paris  was  given  in  the  presence 
of  the  Queen,  and  was  printed  during  the  same  year,  1584.  It 
was  probably  written  immediately  before  this,  and  was  perhaps 
Peele's  first  drama.  The  Heroides  of  Ovid  has  been  given  as  the 
source,  but  there  seems  to  be  no  apparent  reason  why  the 
young  Oxford  Master  of  Arts  may  not  have  known  the  other 
extant  sources  as  well. 

The  Arraignment  of  Paris  is  not  a  pageant  nor  is  it  altogether 
a  pastoral  drama,  but  it  possesses  characteristics  of  both  pageant 
and  pastoral.  The  effect  of  pageantry  appears  everywhere. 
In  Act  1,  Scene  I,  as  Pan,  Faunus,  and  Silvanus,  with  their  at- 
tendants, wait  to  welcome  the  goddesses,  Flora  describes  the 
device  she  has  created  at  the  "entrance  of  the  bower"  where 
Phoebe  is  to  entertain  them.  There  are  "yellow  oxlips,  bright 
as  burnished  gold"  for  Juno,  "flowers  of  hue  and  color  red"  for 
Pallas,  while  for  fair  Venus,  there  are  "sweet  violets  in  blue," 
with  a  wreath  of  roses  and  "other  flowers  infixed  for  change  of 
hue."  Here  is  a  definite  suggestion  of  the  pictorial  sense,  with 
an  especial  delight  in  color.  The  same  quality  pervades  the 
three  "shows"  by  which  the  rival  goddesses  endeavor  to  en- 
thrall the  reluctant  Paris,  and  it  appears  again  in  the  last  act, 
where  the  three  Fates  enter,  and,  crossing  the  stage,  address 
the  Queen,  as  they  reverently  lay  at  her  feet  the  symbols  of  their 
office,  while  Diana  places  the  ball  of  gold  in  the  Queen's  own 
hands.  Because  of  his  gift  for  pageantry,  it  is  not  strange  that 
Peele  should  have  been  chosen  to  provide  plays  for  the  enter- 
tainment of  the  Polish  Prince  Palatine,  Albertus  Alasco,  upon 
the  occasion  of  his  visit  to  Oxford  in  1583,  or  that  for  a  time,  he 
should  have  held  the  office  of  "City  Poet,"  with  its  duty  of  pro- 
viding pageants  at  the  annual  election  of  the  Lord  Mayor. 
Peele's  pageant  for  the  year  1585,  is  the  first  printed  description 
of  a  Lord  Mayor's  pageant  known  to  exist.  The  manuscript, 
which  belongs  to  the  Bodleian  Library,  bears  the  words:  "Donne 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  43 

by  George  Peele,  Maister  of  Artes  in  Oxford."1  "It  contains 
only  the  speeches  spoken  by  the  characters  in  the  pageant,  and 
no  description  of  the  pageant  itself,  or  of  the  procession  in  gen- 
eral, as  was  customary  in  after  years."2  Peele  also  wrote  the 
pageant  for  the  year  1591.3 

The  Arraignment  of  Paris  is  in  the  pastoral  mode.  It  con- 
tains a  description  of  life  upon  Mount  Ida,  and  a  Lay  (Act  III, 
Scene  2)  sung  by  the  Shepherds  as  they  lament,  in  artificial 
pastoral  fashion,  the  fatal  love  of  Colin  and  the  disdain  of 
cruel  Thestylus.  Hobbinol,  Digon,  and  Thenot  also  discourse 
together  upon  love  in  the  pastoral  manner  (Act  III,  Scene  I). 
Yet  pageantry  and  pastoral  are  mere  elements  in  a  drama  of 
considerable  merit.  Peele  strengthened  his  plot  by  balancing 
with  the  story  of  (Enone's  unfortunate  love,  the  tale  of  Colin's 
grief,  while  the  characters  of  the  main  actors  in  the  drama  are 
drawn  with  variety  and  originality.  In  more  ways  than  one, 
Peele  was  an  innovator  in  "  this  his  first  increase,  "4  just  as  a  few 
years  later,  he  was  an  innovator  in  The  Old  Wives  Tale.  More- 
over, the  beauty  of  his  lyrics  and  the  facility  of  his  blank  verse 
are  remarkable  for  one  who  wrote  at  least  four  years  before 
Marlowe's  Tamburlaine  was  acted.  Shakespeare's  Venus  and 
Adonis  did  not  appear  until  1593. 

As  to  the  interpretation  of  the  myth,  we  find  (Enone  as  lovely 
and  as  steadfast  as  in  the  old  Greek  story,  and  Paris  as  fickle; 
and  they  appear  before  us  in  the  atmosphere  of  foreboding  which 
is  as  truly  one  of  the  elements  of  the  earlier  age,  in  which  myth 
developed,  as  of  the  modern  world.  CEnone  sings  while  Paris 
pipes : 

My  love  is  fair,  my  love  is  gay, 

As  fresh  as  bin  the  flowers  in  May, 

And  of  my  love  my  roundelay, 

My  merry  merry  merry  roundelay, 

Concludes  with  Cupid's  curse, 


1  Percy  Society  Publications,  Vol.  X,  p.  24. 
1  Ibid. 

3  Discensus  Astrceae,  written  for  the  mayoral  solemnity  of  Sir  Wm.  Webbe, 
29  Oct.,  1 59 1.     MS.  in  the  Guildhall. 

4  The  play  was  thus  described  by  Nash  in  1589. 


44  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

They  that  do  change  old  love  for  new, 
Pray  gods  they  change  for  worse!1 

And  then  (Enone  begs: 

Sweet  Shepherd,  for  (Enone's  sake  be  cunning  in  this  song, 
And  keep  thy  love  and  love  thy  choice,  or  else  thou  dost  her  wrong. 

Paris  promises: 

My  vow  is  made  and  witnessed,  the  poplar  will  not  start, 
Nor  shall  the  Nymph  (Enone's  love  from  forth  my  breathing  heart. 

The  pathos  of  (Enone's  foreboding  is  apparent  later  in  the  play 
when  Venus  says  to  Paris, 

Sweet  Shepherd,  did  thou  ever  love? 
Paris.  Lady,  a  little  once. 
Venus.  And  art  thou  changed? 
Paris.  Fair  Queen  of  Love,  I  loved  not  all  attonce.2 

(Enone  reveals  her  loveliness  in  two  lyrics  of  exquisite  beauty, 
— the  "  Fair  and  fair  and  twice  as  fair  "  from  which  quotation 
has  just  been  made  and  "(Enone's  Complaint,"3  with  its  sweet 
dignity  and  sense  of  pain  and  patience.  There  is  one  lyric  on 
unrequited  love,  not  (Enone's,  which  is  beautiful, — that  of  Colin, 
beginning,  "O  gentle  Love,  ungentle  for  thy  deed."  Besides 
lyric  beauty,  the  play  contains  graceful  and  flexible  blank  verse, 
notably  that  in  Paris's  "Oration  to  the  Council  of  the  Gods," 
beginning, 

Sacred  and  just,  thou  great  and  dreadful  Jove,4 

and  in  Diana's  description  of  the  "  Nymph  Eliza,"  with  its  in- 
tense spirit  of  national  pride. 

The  place  £lysuim  hight  and  of  the  place 

Her  name  that  governs  there  Eliza  is; 

A  Kingdom  that  may  well  compare  with  mine, 

An  ancient  seat  of  Kings,  a  second  Troy, 

Y-compassed  round  with  a  commodious  sea; 

Her  people  are  y-cleped  Angeli, 

Or  if  I  miss,  a  letter  is  the  most. 

She  giveth  laws  of  justice  and  of  peace;5 

1  The  Temple  Dramatists — The  Arraignment  of  Paris.    Act  I,  Scene  2. 

5  Act  III,  Scene  2. 

3  Act  III,  Scene  I. 

4  Act  IV,  Scene  1. 

6  Compare  with  John  of    Gaunt's  eulogy  of    England  in   Shakespeare's 
Rich.  II,  Act  II,  Scene  1. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  45 

The  lyric  beauty,  and  the  facility  and  dignity  of  the  blank  verse 
form  a  distinct  contrast  to  the  tumbling  "  fourteeners  "  in  which 
much  of  the  verse  is  written;  for,  lovely  as  it  is,  the  play  is  un- 
even. 

As  has  been  mentioned,  especial  interest  is  aroused  by  the 
manner  in  which  Peele  uses  the  myth,  not  as  the  occasion  for 
allegory,  but  in  order  to  pay  a  graceful  compliment  to  the  queen. 
"The  germ  of  this  fine  piece  of  flattery,"  is  to  be  found  in  George 
Gascoigne's  Grief  of  Joy,  a  poem  which  ends  as  follows: 

This  Queen  it  is,  who  had  she  sat  in  field 
When   Paris  judged  that  Venus  bore  the  bell, 
The  prize  were  hers,  for  she  deserves  it  well. 

Using  the  earlier  compliment  to  Queen  Elizabeth  as  his  model, 
Peele  allows  Paris  to  be  "arraigned"  before  the  gods  because  he 
has  awarded  to  Venus  the  apple  which,  according  to  the  decree 
of  the  Fates,  should  have  gone  to 

Our  fair  Eliza,  our  Zabeta  fair. 

The  beauty  of  the  play  Is  heightened  by  descriptions  that  show 
delight  in  nature.  A  notable  example  is  Flora's  exuberent  ex- 
clamation in  Act  I: 

Not  Iris  in  her  pride  and  bravery 

Adorns  her  arch  with  such  variety; 

Nor  doth  the  milk-white  way,  in  frosty  night, 

Appear  so  fair  and  beautiful  in  sight 

As  done  these  fields,  and  groves,  and  sweetest  bowers, 


Where 


Round  about  the  valley  as  ye  pass, 

Ye  may  not  see  for  peeping  flowers  the  grass. 


The  Arraignment  of  Paris  is  interesting  as  an  entertainment, 
with  its  pageantry,  its  novelty,  its  wealth  of  mythology,  but  it  is 
especially  significant  as  the  earliest  example  in  Elizabethan 
Drama  of  a  distinctly  poetic  play.2 


1  See  Felix  E.  Schelling:   The  Life  and  Writings  of  George  Gascoigne,  pp.  80, 
81. 

2  Peele  also  wrote  The  Hunting  of  Cupid,  a  lost  pastoral  drama  licensed 
26  July,  1591,  (S.  R.  II,  p.  278)  which,  from  a  manuscript  statement  of  Drum- 


46  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

The  Paris  story  was  used  as  the  theme  of  two  later  entertain- 
ments,— The  Triumph  of  Beauty  by  Shirley,  and  The  Judgment  of 
Paris  by  Congreve.  The  former  was  given  in  1640,  and  published 
in  1646,  the  title  of  the  old  copy  being,  "The  Triumph  of  Beautie. 
As  it  was  performed  by  some  young  gentlemen  for  whom  it  was 
intended,  at  a  private  Recreation."  The  first  part  of  the  play 
is  an  imitation  of  the  mechanics  in  The  Midsummer  Night's 
Dream.  A  group  of  Shepherds,  distressed  at  the  melancholy  of 
their  "Prince  Paris"  plan  a  "device"  by  which  to  entertain  him. 
Bottle,  the  master  of  ceremonies,  is  Bottom,  the  Weaver,  in  shep- 
herd dress.  Fleay  thinks  that  Thomas  Heywood's  Love's  Mistress, 
acted  on  the  King's  Birthday,  November  19,  probably  in  1634, 
alludes  to  Shirley's  Arcadia,  presented  at  Court  on  a  King's 
Birthday,  November  19,  probably  in  the  year  1632,1  and  that 
The  Triumph  of  Beauty  was  written  in  retaliation,  a  burlesque 
upon  Heywood.  "The  whole,"  he  adds,  "owls,  ships,  fiery 
dragons,  Jason,  Hercules,  and  the  choice  of  Paris,  all  occur  in 
Heywood's  Pageants."  This  conjecture  seems  not  impossible, 
as  far  as  Heywood's  pageants  are  concerned.  But  the  absurd 
discussion  of  the  practicability  of  the  various  episodes  of  the 
Trojan  War  for  the  shepherd's  device  in  The  Triumph  of  Beauty 
is  suggestive  of  the  same  theme  in  Love's  Mistress,  not  in  ridicule 
of  Heywood,  but  in  the  identical  burlesque  vein  which  he  uses; 
it  is  imitation  rather  than  ridicule.  In  Shirley's  story  of  the 
Judgment  of  Paris,  (Enone  does  not  appear,  nor  is  there  any  hint 
of  the  Trojan  War.  The  entire  scene  is  pervaded  by  present 
beauty,  and  there  is  no  real  interpretation  of  the  myth.  Past 
and  Future  are  forgotten,  and  when  the  decision  has  been  made, 
Juno  and  Pallas  do  not  threaten;  they  merely  turn  away  in  dis- 
gust. Paris,  in  his  joy,  avers  "their  anger  frights  not  me,"  and 
Cupid,  who,  "though  blind"  has  never  lost  his  way  to  beauty, 
flies  to  his  mother,  while  Hymen  and  Delight,  the  Graces,  and 
the  "feather-footed  Hours"  come  to  join  in  the  play.  There  is 
no  sense  of  deeper  truth  to  shadow  the  joy  in  love  and  beauty. 


mond  of  Hawthornden,  seen  by  Dyce,  apparently  was  printed  before   1607. 
See  Bullen's  Peek. 

1  Fleay:    Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  Vol.  ii,  p.  239.     Also  pp.  244 

245. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  47 

There  is  exuberant  and  lovely  poetry  in  all  the  persuasive  speeches 
of  the  rival  goddesses,  although  the  loveliest  lines  are  those  in 
which  Venus  says: 

It  shall  be  ever  spring  and  ever  summer 
Where  Paris  shall  inhabit;  all  rude  airs, 
The  killing  dews,  tempest  and  lightning,  shall 
Be  strangers  to  thy  walks,  which  the  west  winds 
Shall  with  their  soft  and  gentle  gales  perfume. 
The  laurel  and  the  myrtle  shall  compose 
Thy  arbours  interwoven  with  the  rose, 
And  honey-dropping  woodbine. 

The  Elizabethan  atmosphere  of  the  speeches  of  Juno  and  Pallas 
is  interesting.  The  glory  in  adventure  and  in  trade  in  the  East 
are  reflected  in  Juno's  plea,  while  Pallas,  in  her  conception  of 
wisdom,  suggests  the  point  of  view  of  the  new  age. 

Congreve's  masque,  The  Judgment  of  Paris,  published  in  1701, 
is  full  of  grace  and  charm.  It  was  written  for  a  competition  in 
music  in  which  "several  persons  of  quality"  offered  two  hundred 
guineas  to  be  divided  between  four  successful  competitors.  The 
successful  compositions  were  all  played  during  the  year  1700.1 
In  this  masque,  the  myth  has  become  a  mere  thread  of  plot.2 
In  English  poetry,  the  myth  has  been  interpreted  a  number  of 
times.  In  his  edition  of  Warton's  History  of  English  Poetry, 
Hazlitt  says,  concerning  Peele's  play,  that  he  has  seen  "a  little 
novel  on  the  subject  with  the  same  compliment  to  the  queen,  by 
Dickenson  in  his  Greene  in  Concept,  etc."3  Apparently,  this  is 
an  error.  Hazlitt  must  have  referred  to  Dickenson's  poem  on 
The  Strife  of  Love  and  Beauty,  in  which  Love  crowns  Beauty  as 
"one  of  three,"  the  third  being  Virtue.  Possibly  a  compliment 
to  the  Queen  is  here  intended,  but  it  is  not  particularly  evident; 
certainly  the  "Judgment"  is  not  given  by  Paris.     The  Cupid 


^ee  D.  N.  B.  Finger.  Mr.  Gosse,  in  his  Life  of  Congreve,  pp.  142-144 1 
says  that  Eccles  was  the  most  successful  competitor  and  gained  the  first 
prize  but  he  is  assigned  second  place  both  in  the  D.  N.  B.  and  in  Grove's 
Dictionary  of  Music  and  Musicians. 

1  In  her  book,  English  Pastoral  Drama  (London,  1908)  Miss  Jeannette  Marks 
gives  an  account  of  a  Pastoral  Opera  on  the  Judgment  of  Paris,  called  Love 
Triumphant  or  the  Rival  Goddesses  by  Mrs.  Bellamy. 

3  Warton's  History  of  English  Poetry:    W.  Carew  Hazlitt  (1871),  p.  298 


48  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

and  Psyche  myth  is,  however,  suggested.  In  the  argument  as  to 
which  is  greater,  Beauty  or  Love,  Beauty  pleads  in  her  own  de- 
fence : 

Psyche  was  more  faire  than  any; 

Lovde  of  lew,  though  lik'de  of  many. 

Yet  so  lik'de  that  not  affected: 

Sisters  sped,  but  she  rejected. 

Yet,  quoth  Beautie,  Psyche  gainde 

Cupid's  heart  to  her  enchande, 

Where  was  then  his  wonted  might? 

Vanquishde  by  a  woman's  sight?1 

This  poem  of  over  a  hundred  lines  is  graceful  and  musical, 
and  a  close  imitation  of  Dickenson's  beloved  Greene,  whose 
songs  in  Menaphon  entitled,  "Sephestia's  Song  to  her  Child" 
and  the  lyric  beginning, 

Some  say  Love 

Foolish  Love 

Doth  rule  and  govern  all  the  gods, 

are  reflected  in  Dickenson's  poem. 

Tennyson's  lyrics  to  (Enone  have  already  been  mentioned. 
The  Death  of  Paris  has  been  told  very  beautifully  by  Walter 
Savage  Landor,  and  by  William  Morris  in  The  Earthly  Paradise^ 
while  Landor  added  the  Story  of  Corythos,  the  son,  according  to 
a  later  myth,  of  (Enone  and  Paris. 


Prose  and  Verse  by  J.  D.,  edited  by  A.  B.  Grosart. 


/ 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  49 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Cupid  and  Psyche  Myth,  and  Thomas  Heywood's  Love's 
Mistress  or  The  Queen's  Masque. 

Of  the  Greek  myths,  none  is  more  beautiful  than  that  of 
Cupid  and  Psyche.  Life,  and  Love,  and  Death  are  the  mysteries 
of  all  time,  and  it  is  only  another  evidence  of  the  beneficence  of 
Truth  that  in  this  ancient  story,  the  Soul  should  be  awakened  by 
Love  at  the  end  of  the  strange  journey  into  the  deep  unknown 
and  that  from  their  union  Joy  should  be  born.  The  Greeks 
loved  to  tell  the  story  on  their  monuments,  but,  from  the  ancients, 
the  only  version  that  has  come  down  to  us  is  in  The  Golden  Ass  of 
Apuleius.  Little  is  known  of  Apuleius  except  the  facts  he  gives 
in  his  works.  He  lived  in  the  second  century,  about  the  time  of 
Antoninus  Pius,  and  was  a  native  of  Madaura,  a  Roman  colony 
in  Africa.  His  family  was  of  considerable  rank.  He  studied 
first  at  Carthage,  then  at  Athens,  where  he  appears  to  have  been 
well  instructed  in  the  literature  of  the  Greeks.  His  chief  work 
is  the  Metamorphoses  or  the  Golden  Ass,  a  fantastic  and  satiric 
romance  in  the  Latin  tongue.  It  tells  of  the  adventures  of  one 
Lucius,  many  of  whose  characteristics  have  been  attributed  to 
Apuleius.  It  is  possible  that  the  romance  is,  to  a  degree,  auto- 
biographical, although  it  is  not  safe  to  carry  the  comparison  too 
far.  The  surname  Lucius  is  often  given  to  Apuleius,  but  it  does 
not  necessarily  belong  to  him.  In  the  disguise  of  an  ass,  Lucius 
was  able  to  satisfy  his  desire  to  know  the  mysteries  of  life  by  ob- 
serving the  preposterous  doings  of  mankind.  He  was  made  wise 
through  experience,  and  at  last  the  ass's  shape  was  removed  by 
a  priest  of  Isis. 

Bayle,  in  his  Dictionary,  says  of  the  Golden  Ass:  "There  is 
reason  to  take  the  Book  for  a  perpetual  Satyr  on  the  Disorders 
which  the  Magicians,  Priests,  Panders,  Thieves,  etc.  fill'd  the 
World  with  at  the  Time.  "*    Whether  or  not  the  book  be  taken  as 


1  Bayle's  Dictionary  (1734),  p.  396. 


50  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

a  satire,  it  is  so  entertaining  and  the  adventures  follow  so  rapidly 
as  to  suggest  that  the  name  "Aureus"  or  Golden,  was  given  to 
it  because  it  afforded  so  much  pleasure.  Into  it  there  have 
been  woven  the  threads  of  many  a  delightful  old  tale,  of  which 
Cupid  and  Psyche  is  the  loveliest.  Apuleius  represents  the  story  as 
told  to  a  beautiful  maiden  who  has  been  taken  captive  by  robbers, 
and  carried  to  their  cave.  She  is  so  disconsolate  that  even  the 
banditti  become  compassionate,  and  induce  an  old  woman,  an 
inmate  of  the  cave,  to  tell  a  story  to  comfort  her. 

The  earliest  interpretation  of  the  myth  of  which  we  have  record 
occurs  in  the  works  of  Fulgentius,1  the  Latin  Grammarian.  He 
was  a  native  of  Carthage,  and  wrote  towards  the  end  of  the  fifth 
century.  His  work  includes,  among  others,  an  allegorical  inter- 
pretation of  ancient  mythology  called  Mithologiarum,  libri  III; 
in  this  work  the  spiritual  interpretation  of  Psyche,  the  Soul, 
is  dwelt  upon.  The  Editio  Princepsof  the  Golden  Ass  appeared 
in  1469,  the  Editio  Princeps  of  the  Mithologiarum,  in  1487. 

The  myth  was  used  first  and  most  frequently  in  the  literature 
of  Italy,2  appearing  there  once  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
four  times  in  the  sixteenth,  and  eight  times  between  1600  and  1650. 
It  was  used  in  a  variety  of  forms,  not  only  in  drama,  in  heroic 
poetry,  in  opera,  but  once  in  the  form  of  a  letter,  and  again  in 
an  elaborate  interlude.  An  apparently  close  familiarity  with 
Apuleius  is  exhibited,  especially  in  the  earlier  works.  The  most 
notable  Italian  production  seems  to  be  the  long  epic  poem  of 
Ercole  Udine,  Awenimenti  amorosi  di  Psichc,  is 99  >  The  in- 
fluence of  this  work  is  seen  repeatedly  in  the  later  poetry.  In 
Spain,  the  myth  was  used  first  about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  in  the  still  unpublished  work  of  Don  Juan  de  Mai  Lara.3 
This  most  original  epic  poem  in  twelve  cantos  has  been  studied 
by  Antoine  de  Latour  in  his  Psyche  en  Espagne,  1879.  De 
Latour  writes  also  of  the  very  beautiful  Autos  Sacramentales  of 
Calderon,  which  followed  about  one  hundred  years  later,  and  in 
which  appear  "quelque  chose  enfin  de  cette  interpretation  as- 


1  Smith's  Dictionary  of  Mythology  and  Biography. 

2  See  Balthazar  Stumfall:    Das  Mdrchen  von  Amor  und  Psyche.     Leipzig, 
1907. 

3  The  basis  for  this  account  of  the  myth  in  Italy,  Spain,  and  France  is  in 
Dr.  Stumfall's  thesis. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  51 

cetique  et  subtile  que  l'eveque  africain,  Fulgence,  avait  faite  au 
VP  siecle,  de  la  fable  d'Apulee."1  The  brilliant  comedy  of  Cal- 
deron  and  that  of  de  Solis,  with  its  splendid  spectacular  features, 
belong  to  the  later  half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  period 
in  which  all  of  the  French  interpretations  of  the  myth  appear. 

In  French  literature,  we  first  find  the  myth  in  1656.  All  the 
French  versions  show  the  influence  of  the  Italian  and  Spanish 
work  that  had  gone  before  rather  than  that  of  the  Latin  original. 
It  was  in  the  opportunity  which  the  story  gave  for  scenic  acces- 
sories and  for  clever  analysis  of  the  feminine  mind  that  it  appeal- 
ed especially  to  the  French  of  the  time  of  Louis  XIV.  The  Psyche 
of  Moliere  was  given  in  1671,  in  the  presence  of  the  king  at  the 
Tuileries.  The  music  was  by  Lulli,  and  Corneille,  then  an  old 
man,  assisted  Moliere.2  As  Voltaire  said  of  it,  the  play  is  not 
great  and  the  last  scenes  are  dull;  but  the  beauty  of  the  subject, 
the  ornaments  with  which  it  was  embelished,  the  royal  wealth 
which  was  lavished  upon  it,  went  far  to  cover  the  defects.3  It 
was  acted  during  the  carnival  of  the  year  1671,  by  La  Troupe 
du  Roi,  and  given  to  the  public  in  the  Theatre  de  la  Salle  du  Palais 
Royal  on  the  24th  of  July,  1671 .  Moliere  took  the  part  of  Zephyr, 
Mile.  Moliere  that  of  Psyche,  and  it  is  possible  that  the  five  or 
six  year  old  daughter  of  Moliere  appeared,  dressed  as  a  Cupid. 
"During  the  remaining  two  years  of  Moliere's  life,  Psyche  was 
acted  more  than  eighty  times  to  nightly  receipts  that  did  not 
vary  greatly  from  a  thousand  livres,  more  than  twice  the  average 
of  those  taken  at  the  performance  of  the  Misanthrope."4 

The  first  English  translation  of  Apuleius  by  William  Adlington 
in  1566,  has  already  been  mentioned.  The  first  extant  play, 
Love's  Mistress,  by  Thomas  Heywood,  was  licensed  September 
30,  1635.  The  first  quarto  bears  the  date  1636  and  a  second 
quarto  apparently  followed  in   1640.5    Heywood  writes  enthu- 

1  De  Latour:   Psyche  en  Espange.     Introduction  pp.  xiv  and  xv. 

2  Despois  et  Mesnard:    CEuvres  de  Moliere,  p.  268. 

3  Ibid. 

4  Brander  Matthews:  Moliere,  p.  274  ff. 

5  There  is  a  good  deal  of  confusion  in  the  reprints  of  this  play,  those  pur- 
porting to  follow  the  1840  quarto  varying  in  spelling  especially.  In  the 
Modern  Language  Quarterly,  Vol.  VII,  1904,  W.  W.  Greg  makes  the  follow- 
ing note:   "Another  undecided  point  is  the  sequence  of  the  editions  of  Love's 


52  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

siastically  of  the  play,  saying  that  it  was  "three  times  presented 
before  both  their  Majesties  within  the  space  of  eight  days,  in  the 
presence  of  sundry  foreign  Ambassadors,"  and  in  his  dedication 
to  the  Lord  Chamberlain,  the  Earl  of  Dorset,  he  speaks  of  its 
having  pleased  her  most  excellent  majesty  to  grace  "the  poem" 
often  with  "her  royal  presence."  The  first  presentation  seems 
to  have  been  given  by  the  Queen's  players  at  the  Phoenix  (former- 
ly the  Cockpit)  in  Drury  Lane.  Cupid,  in  the  Prologue,  de- 
scribes the  play  as  "both  fresh  and  new,"  and  welcomes  the 
Queen  "as  ent'ring  hither  at  our  public  gate."  It  was  given  the 
second  time  at  Denmark  (or  Somerset)  House  in  honor  of  the 
King's  birthday  on  November  19,1  as  the  second  prologue  an- 
nounces. After  this  the  play  was  called  The  Queen's  Masque. 
It  was  at  this  performance  that  the  elaborate  stage  setting  ar- 
ranged by  Inigo  Jones  was  added,  in  which  "he,  in  every  act, 
nay,  almost  to  every  scene,  by  his  excellent  inventions,  gave  such 
an  extraordinary  lustre;  upon  every  occasion  changing  the  stage, 
to  the  admiration  of  all  the  Spectators."  A  third  Prologue  was 
given  at  the  second  performance  during  the  same  week,  this  time 
probably  at  the  Phoenix,  as  Fleay2  and  Collier3  both  seem  to 
think  probable.  Fleay  says  that  the  first  performance  was  in 
1633,  the  second  on  19  November,  1634,  and  there  is  no  apparent 
reason  why  these  conjectures  should  not  hold.  For  his  further 
surmises,  however,  that  the  part  of  Apuleius  was  taken  by  Hey- 
wood,  and  that  of  Midas  by  Christopher  Beeston,  with  William 
Beeston  as  Corydon,  as  well  as  for  his  conjecture  as  to  the  rela- 
tion of  Love's  Mistress  to  the  lost  play  of  Chettle,  Day  and  Dek- 
ker,  there  seems  to  be  no  real  ground.4  Nor  is  there  definite 
foundation  for  his  suggestion  that  of  the  Five  Plays  in  One,  given 
as  a  new  play  of  Hey  wood  in  1597,  the  last  play  was  perhaps 


Mistress.  The  first  edition  appeared  in  1636,  and  was  followed  by  two  bear- 
ing the  date  1640,  namely  '40  A  (Mistresse)  B.  M.  644  e.  42  and  '40  B.  (Mis- 
trese)  J3.  M.  644  e.  43.  Now  '36  and  '40  A  agree,  as  against  40.  B,  while  '40 
A  and  '40  B  agree  as  against  '36;  from  which  it  follows,  provided  there  are  no 
lost  editions,  that  '40  A  was  printed  from  '36  and  '40  B  from  '40  A. 

1  To  the  Reader. 

2  Fleay:   Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  Vol.  I,  pp.  298  and  299. 

3  Collier:   Annals  of  the  Stage,  Vol.  II,  p.  76. 

4  Fleay:   Chronicle,  Vol.  I,  pp.  299,  300. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth 


53 


Cupid  and  Psyche,  the  original  form  of  Love's  Mistress  without 
the  Clown,  etc." 

As  to  the  sources  of  the  play,  Heywood  says  "To  the  Reader, " 
"The  argument  is  taken  from  Apuleius,  an  excellent  Morrall,  if 
truly  understood,  and  may  be  called  a  Golden  Truth,  contained 
in  a  leaden  fable,  which  though  it  be  not  altogether  conspicuous 
to  the  Vulgar,  yet  to  those  of  Learning  and  judgment,  no  less 
apprehended  in  the  Paraphrase  than  approved  in  the  originall; 
of  which  if  the  perusers  thereof  were  all  Apuleians,  and  never  a 
Midas  amongst  them  I  should  make  no  question." 

The  play  is  fundamentally  a  masque,  with  every  opportunity 
for  splendor  of  scenery;  but  there  is  a  definite  plot,  worked  out 
with  dramatic  skill,  and  the  addition  of  a  clown  element  with 
buffoonery  and  burlesque.  The  play  not  only  lends  itself  to  the 
spectacular,  but  it  appeals  to  the  audience  in  clever  comedy,  in 
fun  and  frolic,  in  satire,  in  charm  of  story,  in  pathos  and  poetry. 
The  Masque  opens  with  a  prologue  spoken  by  Cupid,  who  de- 
scends in  a  cloud,  and  the  dramatis  persona  are  the  gods  and  god- 
desses of  Olympus — Jupiter,  Juno,  Apollo,  Venus,  Pan,  Vulcan, 
and  the  family  of  Admetus,  King  of  Arcadia.  There  are  scenes 
in  Arcadia,  on  Olympus,  and  in  Hades.  At  Delphos,  "the  air's 
light  wings"  fan  "through  all  our  ears  immortal  tunes,"  and 
there  before  Apollo  and  his  Sibyls  come  the  royal  family  to  learn 
of  Psyche's  fate.  The  oracle  proclaims  that  she  must  be  clothed 
"in  a  mourning  weed"  and  left  upon  a  hill,  there  to  wed  a  hus- 
band not  human.  Climbing  the  hill  with  difficulty,  she  goes  to 
meet  "the  pale  Hagg,"  Death,  and  is  gently  borne  away  on  the 
wings  of  Zephyrus.  The  scenes  that  follow  afford  opportunity 
for  variety, — Psyche's  castle  with  the  banquet  set  out  by  Zephy- 
rus, while  Echoes  and  invisible  servants  wait  upon  her,  to  the 
sound  of  music;  Cupid  asleep  while  Psyche  comes  with  lamp  and 
razor;  Vulcan's  smithy,  with  his  Cyclops,  while  runaway  Cupid, 
the  fetters  on  his  heels,  takes  refuge  there;  Hades,  with  Minos, 
Eacus,  and  Rhadamont  in  council,  and  Persephone  on  her  throne; 
Psyche's  journey  back  to  earth  with  the  help  of  Charon  and 
Cerberus;  and  the  final  assembly  of  the  gods  and  goddesses, 
Admetus  and  the  forgiven  sisters,  with  the  dance  that  followed, 
while  the  gods  circle  Psyche  "in  a  fairy  ring"  and  grace  her  with 
a  crown. 


54  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

The  antimasque  consists  in  the  dances  and  dumb  shows  which 
Apuleius  provides  for  the  entertainment  of  Midas, — the  dance  of 
the  asses  whom  Apuleius  knew  so  well,  the  Prodigal,  the  Drunken 
Ass,  the  Usurper,  the  Young  Gentlewoman  who  is  a  Mother's 
Darling,  and  the  Ignorant  Ass,  brother  to  Midas  himself.  The 
second  act  closes  with  the  dance  of  Pan  and  the  Clown,  Swains 
and  Country  Wenches,  and  the  third  with  an  elaborate  " conceit" 
to  counteract  the  effect  of  Psyche's  sadness.  The  fourth  act 
closes  with  the  dance  of  Vulcan  and  his  Cyclops. 

The  employment  of  classical  material  is  marked.  The  mytho- 
logy is,  for  the  most  part,  familiar,  and  the  unfamiliar  features 
are  almost  all  to  be  found  in  the  Golden  Ass  except  the  burlesque 
of  the  gods  and  the  story  of  Midas.  Heywood  indulges  in  the 
familiarity  of  a  long  acquaintance  with  the  Olympians.  Full 
forty  years  before  he  had  begun  the  writing  of  the  Ages,  in  which 
he  had  disclosed  their  weaknesses  in  no  respectful  fashion.  The 
scene  between  Venus  and  her  teasing  son,  Cupid;  the  bustling 
impatience  of  Vulcan  with  his  orders  that  came  too  fast  to  be 
filled  and  his  threat  to  make  Venus  turn  "she-smith"  and  help 
him  if  it  would  not  cost  him  too  much  to  keep  her  supplied  with 
cosmetics  to  counteract  the  effect  of  the  smoke;  the  clown's  pun- 
ning parody  on  the  Trojan  War, — all  this  is  spirited  and  clever, 
and  would  be  entertaining  to  any  audience.  Apuleius  and 
Midas,  in  their  ass's  ears,  are  the  chorus.  They  comment  upon 
the  play,  and  act  out  the  contest  between  the  enthusiastic  poet, 
whose  wit  is  "aim'd  at  inscrutable  things  beyond  the  moon, "  and 
Midas,  the  conceited  fool,  who,  making  everything  he  touches 
commonplace,  prefers  Pan's  fool  to  Apollo's  chorus  and  drives 
away  the  angry  god  of  Light. 

The  clown  element  is  in  Heywood 's  characteristic  vein.  He 
is  truly  English  in  his  development  of  this  national  contribution 
to  drama.  In  Love's  Mistress,  the  appeal  to  the  audience  is  in- 
genuous; the  clown  is  conscious  of  his  audience,  and  not  only 
performs  for  it,  but  sometimes  addresses  it  directly.  He  is  full 
of  rollicking  fun,  and  his  ready  wit  shows  itself  in  puns  and  paro- 
dies, and  in  a  boastful  alliteration  that  is  amusing.  The  clown- 
age  is  worked  into  the  plot  with  the  insight  of  a  skillful  play- 
wright.    If  the  substitution  of  the  chorus  and  the  clown  for 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  55 

Apollo  and  Pan  in  the  contest  in  which  Midas  is  judge,  and  the 
counterfeit  box  of  beauty  with  which  the  clown  decorates  him- 
self are  not  subtle  inventions,  they  are,  nevertheless,  humorous 
and  effective.  There  is  coarseness,  at  times,  and,  although  two 
of  the  songs  are  amusing,  with  their  puns  and  bad  Latin,  there  is 
a  third  song  that  is  exceedingly  vulgar.  One  notices  a  certain 
familiarity  and  lack  of  dignity  throughout  the  play,  as  if  the  man- 
ners of  the  clown  and  his  swains  had  touched,  with  harmful  in- 
fluence, the  great  personages  themselves. 

In  his  use  of  the  Cupid  and  Psyche  myth,  Heywood  has  shown 
dramatic  instinct  in  his  omissions,  as  well  as  in  his  additions. 
He  does  not  suggest  that  the  sisters  were  dissatisfied  with  their 
own  husbands  or  that  they  were  in  love  with  Cupid,  and  they  do 
not  die  tragically  as  in  the  Golden  Ass.  Psyche  is  chosen  as  their 
judge  and  she  forgives  them,  making  them  her  humble  hand- 
maids. The  sisters  are  differentiated  not  only  by  their  names 
but  by  their  characters;  Astioche  is  the  leader.  The  husbands 
are  characters  in  the  play  and  take  dignified  parts.  Psyche  does 
not  try  to  kill  herself  as  in  the  Golden  Ass,  nor  are  her  wanderings 
so  long.  She  is  very  lovely  in  the  play, — natural,  and  simple, 
and  sweet ;  far  more  sinned  against  than  in  the  Latin  story.  Her 
disobedience  is  more  tragic  than  in  the  older  version.  Cupid 
warns  her  once;  that  is  all.  He  does  not  dwell  upon  her  danger. 
Her  sisters  terrify  her,  and  their  evil  counsel  destroys  her  self- 
possession;  she  wavers  between  the  advice  of  the  sisters  she 
thinks  she  knows,  and  that  of  her  unseen  husband.  Her  mental 
suffering  expresses  itself  physically.     Boreas  has  been  ordered  to 

Breathe  winter's  stormes  upon  the  blushing  cheekes 
Of  beautious  Psiche;  with  thy  boisterous  breath, 
Rend  off  her  silks,  and  cloathe  her  in  torn  rags; 
Hang  on  her  loath 'd  looks  base  deformity, 
And  bear  her  to  her  father.1 

She  is  so  changed  that  her  father  does  not  recognize  her.  The 
sisters  scorn  her;  Venus  beats  her.  She  is  alone  and  loveless. 
No  wonder  that,  as  she  bears  the  box  from  Persephone  she  longs 
for  the  beauty  it  contains. 


1  Love's  Mistress,  III,  I,  70-74. 


56  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

There  has  always  been  more  or  less  inconsistency  in  the  con- 
ception of  Cupid.  In  earliest  Greek  art,  Eros  seems  to  have 
typified  the  embodiment  of  floating  desire.  He  was  worshipped 
not  as  the  light  and  sensuous  love  god  of  later  days,  but  as  the 
mysterious  impulse  that  brings  about  the  union  of  human  beings, 
and  ensures  the  continuance  of  life.  Later,  the  Romans  gave  a 
more  serious  and  symbolic  interpretation  to  the  gay  spirit  of 
Greek  imagination.  In  medieval  times  the  atmosphere  of 
gayety  clung  to  him.     Dante  says: 

And  then  I  saw  Love  come  from  far  away, 
But   soon   I    knew  him   for  his  joyous  air. 
'Honor  to  me,'  he  said,  'think  now  to  pay.' 
And  all  his  words  with  smiles  compassioned  were.1 

And  Chaucer, — 

Y-clothed  was  this  mighty  god  of  love 
In  silke,  embrouded  ful  of  grene  greves. 
In — with  a  fret  of  rede  rose-leves, 
The  freshest  sin  the  world  was  first  bigonne; 
His  gilte  heer  was  corouned  with  a  sonne, 
In-sted  of  gold,  for  hevinesse  and  wighte; 
Therewith  me  thoughte  his  face  shoon  so  brighte 
That  wel  unnethes  might   I   him  beholde.2 

Heywood's  characterization  of  Cupid  is  confused.  He  is  neither 
the  royal  youth  of  classic  Greek  and  of  Medieval  times,  nor  the 
little  winged  boy  of  late  Greek  art.  The  author  seems  to  have 
both  Cupids  in  mind  and  he  does  not  discriminate.  Sometimes 
Cupid  is  the  naughty  boy  of  Olympus,  more  often  he  is  a  digni- 
fied lover.  At  the  end  he  is  compassionate  and  loving,  although 
not  over  gallant  to  womankind.     He  says, 

But  foolish  girle;  alas  why  blame  I  thee 
When  all  thy  sex  is  guilty  of   like   pride, 
And  ever  was?3 

Love's  Mistress  is  not  a  great  play;  probably  a  great  play  on 
the  subject  cannot  be  written.  The  myth  lends  itself  to  opera, 
to  masque  and  pageant ;  but  the  dramatic  quality  of  the  story  must 

1  The  Vita  Nuova:  Charles  Eliot  Norton  (1867),  p.  59. 
*  The  Prologue  to  The  Legend  of  Good  Women. 
3  Love's  Mistress,  V,  II. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  57 

ever  be  blurred  by  the  allegory.  If  Heywood's  play  lacks  a 
fusion  of  all  the  elements  into  perfect  harmony,  the  author  was 
almost  always  conscious  of  the  poetry  of  his  subject. 

Pepys  mentions  seeing  the  play  of  Love's  Mistress  five  times.1 
On  March  2,  1661,  he  writes  enthusiastically  of  the  new  play, 
"The  Queen's  Maske"  which  he  saw  at  the  theatre  in  Salisbury 
Court.  He  especially  delighted  in  the  "good  jeer  to  the  old 
story  of  the  Siege  of  Troy,  making  it  to  be  a  common  country 
tale."  He  saw  the  play  again  on  March  11,  at  The  Theatre,  but 
he  is  not  as  well  pleased  as  with  the  company  at  Salisbury  Court. 
He  mentions  the  mere  fact  of  having  seen  it  on  March  25  of  the 
same  year.  Twice  again ,  in  1 665 ,  and  in  1 668 ,  he  saw  the  play  at  the 
King's  House,  and  each  time  he  writes  of  the  "variety  and  diver- 
tisement"  and  of  the  "pretty  things"  in  it.  The  play,  then, 
was  one  of  the  first  to  be  given  at  the  opening  of  the  theatres, 
and  one  of  the  most  popular  during  the  earlier  years  of  the  Res- 
toration. The  opportunity  for  "pretty"  scenes  and  for  music 
and  dancing,  as  well  as  its  variety  recommended  it  to  the  new 
age,  and  there  is  something  wholesome  in  the  fact  that  this  play, 
with  its  vigorous  Elizabethan  atmosphere,  its  healthy  fun,  its 
spiritual  interpretation  of  a  beautiful  myth,  should  have  held 
its  own  so  long.  After  the  splendid  scenery  of  Moliere's  Psyche 
and  its  imitation  in  England  by  Shad  well,  we  hear  of  Thomas 
Heywood's  play  no  longer. 

The  story  of  the  myth  in  English  Literature  is,  however,  by 
no  means  finished.  It  abounds  in  translation,  in  paraphrase, 
and  in  poetry.  After  Adlington's  work,  there  seems  to  be  no 
English  translation  until  that  of  the  Platonist,  Thomas  Taylor, 
in  1795,  Apuleius  Mzdiurensis,  The  Fable  of  Cupid  and  Psyche; 
to  which  are  added  a  Poetical  Paraphrase  on  the  Speech  of  Dio- 
tima  in  the  Banquet  of  Plato;  four  Hymns,  with  an  Introduction, 
in  which  the  meaning  of  the  Fable  is  unfolded.  The  Fable  is  the 
Cupid  and  Psyche  myth,  and  the  interpretation  is  published 
again  in  the  later  work  of  Thomas  Taylor,  The  Metamorphosis  or 
Golden  Ass  and  Philosophical  Works  of  Apuleius,  1822,  and  by 
Bohn  in  the  translation  of  Apuleius  which  he  published  in  1853. 


1  The  Diary  of  Samuel  Pepys:   edited  by  Wheatley,  Vol.  I,  pp.  355,  359, 
365;  Vol.  IV,  p.  412  and  Vol.  VIII,  p.  82. 


58  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

In  1842,  an  English  translation  was  made  by  G.  F.  Hildebrand, 
and  in  1851  another  by  Sir  George  Head.  The  most  beautiful 
of  the  English  translations,  however,  is  that  of  Walter  Pater,  in 
his  Marius  the  Epicurean,  the  chapter  on  The  Golden  Book.  Pater 
writes  of  the  beauty  of  that  "book  of  books"  of  the  day,  of  the 
"archaisms  and  curious  felicities  in  which  that  age  delighted, 
quaint  terms  and  images,  picked  fresh  from  the  early  dramatists, 
the  life-like  phrases  of  some  lost  poem  preserved  by  an  old  gram- 
marian, racy  morsels  of  the  vernacular  and  studied  prettinesses ; — 
all  alike  merely  playthings  for  the  genuine  power,  and  natural 
eloquence  of  the  erudite  artist,  unsuppressed  by  his  erudition."1 
Into  his  translation  of  Cupid  and  Psyche,  Pater  has  woven  some- 
thing of  the  "aurum  intextum,"  the  "gold  fibre"  which  he  found 
in  the  Golden  Book. 

There  have  been  two  unsuccessful  attempts  at  metrical  ver- 
sions of  the  story  of  Cupid  and  Psyche,  one  by  Hudson  Gurney, 
Esq.,  appearing  anonymously  in  1799,2  the  other,  a  long  poem  in 
Spenserian  stanza  by  Mrs.  Henry  Tighe  in  1805.  Mrs.  Brown- 
ing, however,  has  translated  fragments  of  the  story  in  charming 
verse.  The  myth  has  fared  better  in  prose  version.  In  1744, 
it  was  retold  in  quaint  and  pleasing  fashion  by  "Mr.  Lockman" 
in  his  book  called  The  Loves  of  Cupid  and  Psyche  in  Verse  and 
Prose  from  the  French  of  La  Fontaine,  to  which  was  prefixed  a 
Version  of  the  same  story  from  the  Latin  of  Apuleius.z  Recently, 
the  story  has  been  told  delightfully  by  Paul  Carus,  1900,  and 
by  Rouse,  1907,  in  his  Cupid  and  Psyche  and  other  Tales  from 
the  Golden  Ass. 

In  English  poetry,  the  myth  has  been  variously  interpreted. 
Milton,  towards  the  close  of  Comus,  describes  very  beautifully 
the  Eternal  union  of  Love  and  Spiritual  Beauty.  Two  poems  be- 
long to  the  seventeenth  century,  The  Legend  of  Cupid  and  Psyche 
by  Shakerley  Marmion,  and  the  epic  poem  Psyche  by  Joseph 
Beaumont.  In  each,  the  myth  has  been  taken  out  of  its  atmos- 
phere of  simplicity  and  romance  and  has  been  treated  with  an 
elaborateness  and  learning  characteristic  of  the  period.     Mar- 

1  Marius  the  Epicurean  (1885),  p.  60. 

2  Cf.   D.   N.   B.  Hudson  Gurney. 

3  Both  versions  appear  in  The  Bohn  Library,  (1853). 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  59 

mion1  is  verbose,  proud  of  his  learning  and  of  his  worldly  wis- 
dom; he  uses  countless  metaphors  and  far-fetched  figures  which 
sometimes  become  conceits.  There  are  absurdities,  and  the 
verse,  though  fluent,  depends  too  much  upon  the  rhymes  which 
are  often  bad.  Yet  the  poem  is  very  pleasing.  It  is  conceived 
in  the  spirit  of  sincere  enthusiasm,  and  the  story  remains  simple 
and  sweet  in  the  midst  of  its  doubtful  ornamentation.  Beau- 
mont's Psyche,2  published  in  1648,  is  probably  the  longest  poem 
in  the  English  language,  although  its  author  modestly  calls  it  his 
"dedicated  mite."  The  Cupid  and  Psyche  myth  is  all  but  lost 
in  the  religious  significance.  In  the  earlier  cantos,  there  are 
traces  of  Cupid  in  the  Love  which  woos  Psyche:  he  has  "golden 
locks,"  bears  a  quiver  of  "Innumerable  Shafts,"  and  is  the  son 
of  one  whom  "the  Graces  follow,"  but  even  here  the  mystical 
meaning  stifles  all  but  the  suggestion  of  the  myth.  The  poem 
shows  wonderful  imaginative  power,  and  the  twenty-four  huge 
cantos  contain  passages  of  rare  beauty,  but  the  poem  as  a  whole, 
is  like  a  vast  forest,  whose  paths,  some  leading  to  mighty  shadows 
and  fantastic  forms,  others  bright  in  the  sunshine,  are  never- 
ending  and  numberless. 

It  is  natural  that  in  the  eighteenth  century  the  myth  almost 
fails  to  appear.  Towards  the  close  of  the  century,  however, 
Erasmus  Darwin,  the  portly  and  vigorous  physician,  grand- 
father of  Charles  Darwin,  wrote  his  Botanic  Garden?  The  second 
part  of  this  poem  tells  of  the  Loves  of  the  Plants,  and  from  out 
the  scientific  didacticism  with  its  forced  personification  and  stiff 
rhetoric,the  Cupid  and  Psyche  story  appears  in  charming  relief. 

So  pure,  so  soft,  with  sweet  attraction  shone, 
Fair  Psyche,  kneeling  at  the  etherial  throne; 
Won  with  coy  smile  the  admiring  court  of  Jove, 
And,  warm'd  the  bosom  of  unconquer'd  Love. 

In  the  nineteenth  century,  there  are  many  allusions  to  the 
myth,  and  several  long  poems.  Moore  speaks  of  the  story  in 
his  youthful  outburst  in  praise  of  Mrs.  Tighe's  verses  and  later, 

1  Minor  Poets  of  the  Caroline   Period:    Saintsbury:     Vol.  II,  The   Legend 
of  Cupid  and  Psyche. 
a  Joseph  Beaumont,  edited  by  Grosart:    Psyche. 
3  Erasmus  Darwin :  The  Poetical  Works,  1806. 


60  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

in  his  Summer  Fete  The  Ode  to  Psyche  of  Keats  and  the  less 
notable  Psyche  of  Lewis  Morris  in  the  Epic  of  Hades,  1876,  are 
representative  of  different  phases  of  thought,  while  the  poem  of 
William  Morris,  in  1868,  and  that  of  Robert  Bridges,  in  1885, 
give  the  story  of  Apuleius  in  its  fulness,  the  former  in  the  wealth 
of  romantic  loveliness,  the  latter  in  the  repose  of  classic  beauty. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  6i 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Myth  of  Phaeton,  and  The  Sun's  Darlings  by  Ford 

and  Dekker 

In  Greek  mythology,  Phaeton,  "the  shining  one,"  was  some- 
times another  name  for  Helios,  the  sun  god,  sometimes  it  referred 
to  his  son.  In  Homer,1  he  is  simply  Helios,  but  in  Hesiod,  in  a 
portion  of  the  story  which  no  longer  exists,  he  was  the  son  of 
Helios.  The  myth  of  Phaeton  will  always  be  a  true  nature  myth. 
If  the  sun  destroyed  the  fruits  and  flowers,  which  his  warmth 
had  called  into  being,  it  was  natural  to  imagine  that  the  destruc- 
tion came  about  because  some  one  else  less  skillful  than  he,  held 
the  reins  of  the  sun-chariot.  The  thunderstorm  which  ended 
the  drought  and  heat  was  the  death  blow  dealt  to  Phaeton,  and 
the  tears  of  the  Heliades,  his  sisters,  were  the  downpouring  rain 
which  followed  the  lightning.  This  is  the  story  Ovid  knew,  and 
Book  II  of  the  Metamorphoses  is  devoted  to  the  history  of  Phaeton. 
Ovid  tells  also,  how  Phaeton  appeared  before  his  father,  demand- 
ing proof  of  his  glorious  birth  and  the  father,  proud  of  the  beauty 
of  his  son,  promised  to  grant  him  anything  he  might  ask.  The 
rash  youth  demanded  the  chariot  and  steeds  for  one  day's  jour- 
ney from  east  to  west,  and  no  persuasions  of  the  father  could 
avail.2 

In  English  poetry,  there  have  been  countless  allusions  to  the 
myth;  indeed,  the  very  name,  Phaeton,  has  come  to  mean  a  rash 
and  audacious  youth,  ready  to  undertake  any  enterprise.  Mil- 
man,  in  his  Samor,  alludes  to  the  story: 


xThe  Iliad:  Book  XI,  735,  cvre  yap  rjekios  <f>ai8u)v  wcpeo-xeSe  yatiys,  and 
The  Odyssey:    Book  V,  479,  ovre  ttot   ^e\ios  ^aeSwv  aKrlaiv  efiaXXev. 

*  Golding's  moralizing  in  regard  to  Phaeton  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Earl  of 
Leicester  is  very  amusing.  See  Golding's  Ovid's  Metamorphoses.  Ed.  by 
Rouse. 


62  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

Him  the  thunderer  hurled 
From  the  Empyrean  headlong  to  the  gulf 
Of  the  half-parched  Eridamus  where  weep 
Even  now  the  sister-trees  their  amber  tears 
O'er  Phaeton  untimely  dead. 

Landor  describes  the  palace  and  chariot  of  the  son  in  Gebir,  Book 
I,  while  George  Meredith's  Phaethon  has  called  forth  unstinted 
praise,  not  only  as  an  achievement  in  the  galliambic  measure, 
but  as  poetry  pure  and  simple.1  As  to  allusions,  Chaucer,  in 
his  House  of  Fame,2  wrote  of 

The  sone's  sonne,  the  rede 
That  highte  Pheton, 

Spenser  tells  the  story  in  the  Faerie  Queene,3  and  Shakespeare  re- 
peatedly alludes  to  the  myth.4  In  Romeo  and  Juliet,  Act  III, 
Sc.  II,  Juliet  cries  in  her  impatience: 

Gallop  apace,  you  fiery-footed  steeds, 
Toward  Phoebus'  lodging,  such  a  waggoner 
As  Phaeton  would  whip  you  to  the  west, 
And  bring  in  cloudy  night  immediately. 

In  France,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  Phaeton,  the  tragedy 
in  lyric  verse  by  Quinault,  made  a  tremendous  sensation.  The 
play  was  in  five  acts,  with  a  prologue,  and  the  music  was  by 
Lulli.  It  had  for  its  subject  the  return  of  the  age  of  gold,  and 
for  its  principal  object,  the  eulogy  of  Louis  XIV.  It  was  given 
at  court  on  the  sixth  of  January,  1663.  The  subject  offers  a 
great  opportunity  for  pageantry.  Several  amusing  parodies 
followed  the  play,  among  them  the  Chute  de  Phaethon,  1690, 
and  Phaethon,  Comedie,  by  Palaprat,  1692.5  The  manner  in 
which  the  vogue  of  Quinault's  Phaeton  reached  England  has  al- 
ready been  told.9 

In  English  drama,  there  were  certainly  two  plays  founded 
upon  the  myth,  one  of  which,  written  by  Dekker,  has  been  lost. 


*See  The  Athenceum  for  June  II,  1887. 

2  Book  II,  11.  430-451. 

3  Faerie  Queene  1.  4:  9. 

4  Richard  II,  III:  39.     Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona,  III,  1;  3  Hen.  VI,  I,  4. 
6  Larousse  Dictionnaire:    Phaethon. 

6  See  the  account  of  Charles  Gildon's  Phaeton,  p.  37  above. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  63 

In  Henslowe's  Diary,  we  find  the  following  entry:  "lent  unto  the 
company  [Lord  Admiral's],  the  15  of  Janewary  1597  to  a  bye  a 
booke  of  mr  dicker  called  fayeton  fower  pownde."1  In  March, 
1598,  in  the  inventory  of  apparel  for  the  Lord  Admiral's  men, 
among  those  "leaft  above  in  the  tier  house  in  the  cheast, "  we 
find:  "Item  1 1  leather  antickes  cottes  with  basses  for  Fayeton,"2 
while  on  Jan.  15,  1598,  there  is  a  list  of  properties  for  "Phaeton 
by  Dekker."  This  lost  play  was  apparently  acted  at  court  in 
1600,  for  the  following  entry  appears  in  the  Diary:  "lent  unto 
Wm.  Bird  the  2  of  Janewary  1600  for  divers  thinges  about  the 
playe  of  fayeton  for  the  corte.  "8  Fleay4  thinks  this  was  probably 
presented  at  court  in  December,  and  he  finds  it  mentioned  among 
"new  plays  for  the  Admiral's  men  at  the  Rose  on  January  15, 
1598. "5  This  is  unquestionably  the  original  form  of  The  Sun's 
Darling,  licensed  for  the  Cockpit  the  third  of  May,  1624,  as  by 
Dekker  and  Ford,  and  printed  in  1656. 

Raybright,  The  Sun's  Darling,6  is  no  longer  young.  He  has 
worn  "rich  habits,"  yet  they  are  to  him  merely  "Ass-trappings;" 
he  has  been  sent  out  into  strange  lands, 

Seen  courts  of  foreign  kings,  by  them  been  grac'd, 

but  he  claims  to  have  found  in  life  only  bitterness  and  disillu- 
sionment.    To  him  it  seems 

As  comfortable 

To  die  upon  the  embroiderie  of  the  grass, 

Unmmded,  as  to  set  a  world  at  gaze. 

Yet  he  is  not  truly  disillusioned ;  he  is  one  of  the  dreamers,  whose 
longings  no  new  experience  can  stifle.  He  learns  from  the  Priest 
of  the  Sun,  that  he  is  to  be  honored  by  a  visit  from  his  "great 
Progenitor,"  who  will  descend  from  heaven  to  gratify  his  long- 
ings. Raybright  begs  that  he  may  be  acknowledged  as  the  son 
of  heaven,  and  that  the  proof  of  this  may  be  his  enjoyment  of 
the  pleasures  which  each  season  "in  its  Kind"  provides.     His 

1  Greg's  Henslowe's  Diary:    Part  I,  p.  83. 
8  Ibid,  p.  116. 

3  Ibid,  p.  125. 

4  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama.  Vol.  I,  p.  127. 
6  Ibid,  p.  122. 

6  The  Dramatic  Works  of  Thomas  Dekker:   Pearson  (1873),  Vol.  IV. 


64  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

wish  is  granted.  Youth,  Delight,  and  Health  lay  their  offerings 
at  the  Darling's  feet,  while  he,  Folly-led,  spurns  Spring  for  Sum- 
mer's Bounty,  and  Summer  for  Autumn's  maturity,  and  Autumn 
for  Winter's  full  appetite,  realizing  what  he  is  losing  too  late. 
Masques  and  Bacchantes  dance,  and  Cupid  flits  in  old  Time's 
court,  and  Phoebus  leads  them  on.  Here  is  a  new  interpretation 
of  the  myth;  Phaeton  is  no  inexperienced  youth,  but  an  unwearied 
worldling.  He  desires  from  his  father  an  opportunity,  not  for 
display  of  power  but  for  selfish  enjoyment  of  life.  In  the  end, 
he  causes  no  destruction  to  the  earth  below  him ;  his  punishment 
is  the  realization  of  his  own  folly.  That  realization  is  not  very 
conspicuous,  however;  one  is  almost  certain  that,  given  the  op- 
portunity, he  would  spend  another  year  much  as  before,  and  the 
moral  in  this  "Moral  Masque,"  as  its  authors  call  it,  is  not  op- 
pressive. Nor  is  it  truly  a  Masque.  It  possesses  Masque  ele- 
ments in  the  dancing  and  the  music;  there  is  the  spectacular 
element  in  the  Scenes  where  Folly  whips  Time  across  the  stage, 
where  Antonio  and  Bacchanalian,  Conceit  and  Detraction, 
Virtue  and  Vice,  Humor  and  Folly  appear;  there  is  a  suggestion 
of  antimasque  in  the  entrance  of  the  clowns  at  the  beginning  of 
Act  III;  but  the  play  possesses  a  fairly  well-constructed  plot, 
and  the  interest  centres,  not  in  the  Masque  features,  which  are 
merely  accessory,  but  in  the  plot  and  the  poetry. 

An  especial  interest  attaches  itself  to  this  play  in  the  question 
of  authorship.  How  much  of  it  was  Dekker's?  What  part  was 
Ford's?  And  did  Dekker  borrow  his  song,  "What  bird  so  sings, 
yet  so  does  wail"1  from  Lyly? 

It  has  been  fairly  well  agreed  upon  that  the  foundation  of  the 
play  is  Dekker's  older  Phaeton.  It  has  also  been  stated  that 
doubtless  Ford  wrote  the  last  two  acts.  This  seems  not  so  likely 
as  that  the  play  is  really  Dekker's  revised  by  Ford.2  One  finds 
the  hand  of  Dekker  throughout  the  play.  In  Dekker's  Old 
Fortunatus,  we  find  the  same  kind  of  poetic  drama.  The  theme 
is  the  old  story  of  the  Wishing  Cap  and  the  Magic  Purse.  Old 
Fortunatus,  poor  and  very  patient,  hungry  and  weary,  but  a 
philosopher  still,  despite  his  empty  stomach,  lies  down  under  a 


*Act  II. 

*Schelling:    The  Elizabethan  Drama,  Vol.  I,  p.  396. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  65 

tree  in  the  forest  and  falls  asleep.  There  Fortune,  Queen  of 
Chance,  spies  him  and  bids  the  old  beggar  arise  and  be  her 
minion.  He  may  choose  one  of  the  six  gifts  she  bestows  upon 
humanity, — Wisdom,  Strength,  Health,  Beauty,  Long  Life,  and 
Riches.  He  chooses  Riches, — the  magic  purse  that  shall  never 
be  empty,  and,  although  Fortune  warns  him  that  he  has  chosen 
to  "go  dwell  with  Care,"  he  cries,  "Fie  to  Care  and  Death! 
If  I  die  tomorrow,  I'll  be  merry  today!"  Fortunatus,  like 
Raybright,  makes  an  unwise  choice,  is  led  by  Folly  and  dis- 
covers his  mistake  too  late.  But  it  is  not  in  plot  alone  that  the 
two  plays  are  alike.  They  share  the  same  atmosphere  of  poetry, 
and  their  attitude  toward  life  is  the  same.  In  each  there  is, 
to  use  Charles  Lamb's  phrase,  "poetry  enough  for  anything." 
In  vividness  and  beauty  of  details,  Dekker  gives  delight.  In 
Old  Fortunatus  he  says: 

With  weary  sorrow  have  I  wandered, 

And  three  times  seen  the  sweating  sun  take  rest, 

And  three  times  frantic  Cynthia  naked  ride 

About  the  rusty  highways  of  the  skies 

Stuck  full  of  burning  stars,  which  lent  her  light 

To  court  her  negro  paramour  grim  Night.1 

In  the  Sun's  Darling,  Plenty  says  of  Summer: 

When  she  was  born,  the  Sun  for  joy  did  rise 
Before  his  time,  only  to  kiss  those  eies, 
Which  having  touch'd,  he  stole  from  them  such  store 
Of  light,  she  shone  more  bright  than  e're  before: 
At  which  he  vow'd,  when  ever  she  did  die, 
Hee'd  snatch  them  up,  and  in  his  sisters  sphere 
Place  them,  since  he  had  no  two  stars  so  clear.2 

One  could  go  straight  from  the  Wishing  Cap  Country  into  the 
land  of  Raybright's  journey,  without  leaving  Dekker's  domain. 

In  regard  to  Fleay's  conjecture  that  the  songs  in  Lyly's  Cam- 
paspe  were  written  by  Dekker,  W.  W.  Greg3  reminds  us  that  it 
was  not  until  1632,  in  the  Blount  edition  of  Lyly's  Six  Court 
Comedies  that  certain  songs  appeared.    Where  did  Blount  find 

*Act  I,  sc.  I. 

2  Act  III. 

3  See  Modern  Language  Review,  1905-1906,  the  Authorship  of  the  songs 
in  Lyly's  Plays:  W.  W.  Greg.     Also  Bond:  John  Lyly.     Vol.  II,  pp.  264,  265. 


66  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

these?  They  did  not  exist  in  the  quartos  from  which  the  text 
was  taken.  Mr.  Greg  says  that  "there  is  one  sentence  in  his 
epistle  To  the  Reader,  which  may  conceivably  bear  upon  the 
point."  Blount  explains,  "These  papers  lay  like  dead  Lawrells 
in  a  church-yard ;  But  I  have  gathered  the  scattered  branches  up, 
and  by  a  charme  (gotten  from  Apollo)  made  them  greene  againe, 
and  set  them  up  as  Epitaphs  to  his  Memory. "  May  the  "charme 
gotten  from  Apollo"  have  been  the  employment  of  Thomas 
Dekker,  fallen,  as  had  so  often  happened  before,  upon  evil  days? 
There  is  neither  internal  nor  external  evidence  to  prove  that 
Lyly  was  a  song-writer,  and  there  is  a  good  deal  of  proof  that 
certain  of  the  songs  in  the  Six  Court  Comedies  could  not  have  been 
written  as  early  as  his  day.  As  to  the  particular  song  in  question, 
"What  bird  so  sings,  yet  so  does  wail,"  which  appears  in  both 
Campaspe  and  the  Sun's  Darling  with  certain  variations,  Mr. 
Greg  thinks  that  the  song  in  the  latter  play  was  written  before 
that  of  Campaspe,  which  appeared  in  the  Blout  edition  of  1632, 
and  that  both  belong  to  Dekker. 

One  question  persists  throughout  the  study  of  Classic  Myth  as 
it  appears  in  the  Drama  of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth, — why  do  we  find 
no  truly  great  plays?  Is  it  that  Classic  Myth  lends  itself  to  al- 
legory, to  poetry,  to  masque,  to  the  dramatic,  and  not  to  great 
drama?  Myth  reveals  the  spirit  at  the  heart  of  the  material 
world ;  it  is  full  of  spontaneity ;  it  is  universal  in  its  depth  and  its 
sympathy.  These  are  the  qualities  of  great  poetry,  and  yet  we 
do  not  find  the  great  Elizabethan  play.  Coleridge  said  of  Greek 
drama  that  "tragedy  carried  the  thoughts  into  the  mythologic 
world  in  order  to  raise  the  emotions,  the  fears,  and  the  hopes 
which  convince  the  inmost  heart  that  their  final  cause  is  not  to 
be  discovered  in  the  limits  of  mere  mortal  life,  and  force  us  into 
a  presentiment,  however  dim,  of  a  state  in  which  those  struggles 
of  inward  free  will  with  outward  necessity,  which  form  the  true 
subject  of  the  tragedian,  shall  be  reconciled  and  solved."  To 
Sophocles  and  Euripides,  and  to  the  audiences  who  listened  to 
their  dramas,  the  mythologic  world  was  real.  The  Elizabethan 
dramatist,  on  the  other  hand,  did  not  believe  in  myth;  he  played 
with  it.     And  thus,  because  he  did  not  believe,  he  failed  to  create 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  67 

that  sense  of  the  world  outside  our  mortal  life,  in  which  the 
"struggle  between  inward  free  will  and  outward  necessity  .... 
shall  be  reconciled."  Strong  in  his  growing  individualism  and 
his  patriotism,  he  carried  his  tragedy  back  into  ancient  Rome  or 
into  the  early  days  of  Britain.  In  Lear  we  find  the  same  "pre- 
sentiment" of  a  reconciling  world  which  we  find  in  the  (Edipus 
Tyrannus.  Here  is  the  great  Elizabethan  tragedy,  and  Shakes- 
peare has  given  us  Puck  and  Ariel;  he  knew  fairyland,  but  the 
world  of  Phaeton  and  Psyche  was  unreal  to  him.  William 
Blake  knew  that  myths  have  much  to  teach  us;  he  lamented 
that  "man  has  closed  himself  up  till  he  sees  all  things  through 
narrow  chinks  of  his  cavern."  Shelley  knew;  but,  in  Prometheus 
Unbound,  Shelley  forgot  the  dramatic  in  his  lyrical  ecstasy.  If 
Shelley  had  lived  longer,  who  can  tell  what  he  might  have  done? 
There  are  men  today  who  are  realizing  more  and  more  how  true 
myths  are.  May  we  not  hope  that,  lyrical  and  contemplative 
as  the  myth-making  instinct  is,  nevertheless,  the  great  drama  on 
Classic  Myth  may  yet  be  written? 


68  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 


LIST  OF  PLAYS 

Plays  on  Classic  Story  before  1642 

The  following  is  compiled  largely  from  material  suggested  by  the  Btblio- 
iraphical  Essay  and  List  of  Plays  in  The  Elizabethan  Drama:  Felix  E.  Schel- 
ling, Vol.  II,  and  from  W.  W.  Greg's  list: 

1.  Actceon  and  Diana:  with  a  Pastoral  Story  of  the   Nymph  CEnone.     Act- 

ed c.  1640.     Cf.  Schelling,  The  Elizabethan  Drama:    Vol.  II,  pp. 
170,  171. 

2.  Agamemnon. 

Agamemnon:    Translation  by  J.   Studley,    1566.     Seneca  his   Tennt 

Tragedies  Translated  into  English,  1581.     Reprinted  in  Spenser 

Society  Publications,  1887. 
Agamemnon:     Tragedy.     Chettle    and    Dekker,    1599.     See    Greg's 

Henslowe  Papers,  Vol.  II,  p.  202. 
Agamemnon  and   Ulysses.      1584,  Revels  Account.     New  Shakespeare 

Society  Publications,  1842,  p.  188. 

3.  Ajax. 

Ajax  Flagellifer.     Latin  Translation  of  Sophocles.     Cambridge  1564. 

See  Nichols'  Elizabeth,  Vol.  I,  p.  179. 
Ajax  and  Ulisses,  showen  on  New  Years  daie  at  nighte  by  the  children 

of  Wynsor,  1572.     Revels  Account,  p.  13. 
Contention  of  Ajax  and   Ulysses.     Shirley,   1659.     Presented   1640. 

4.  Alcmceon,  1573.     Revels  Account,  p.  51. 

5.  Antigone. 

Antigone.     Latin     Verse.     Translated     from     Sophocles,     1581,     by 

Thomas  Watson. 
Antigone.     Thomas  May,  1631.     Dodsley's  Old  Plays. 

6.  Apollo  and  Daphne.     Pleasant  Dialogues  and  Drammas.     Thomas  Hey- 

wood,  1637.     See  Greg's  Henslowe,  Vol.  II,  p.  183. 

7.  Atalanta. 

Atalanta.     1611-1615.     (Brit.    Mus.    MS.    Hasl.   6924.)     See   Greg's 

Pastoral  Drama,  p.  235. 
Meleager.     Gager,  1581,  Latin.     Hazlitt's  Manual,  p.  154.     See  also 

Schelling:  Elizabethan  Drama:    Vol.  II,  p.  588. 
Meleager.     MS.    Fragment,     1570-90.     See    Schelling:      Elizabethan 

Drama:  Vol.  II,  p.  588. 

8.  Cupid  and  Psyche. 

The  Golden  Ass  and  Cupid  and  Psyche,  Chettle,  Day,  and  Dekker. 

See  Greg's  Henslowe,  Vol.  II,  p.  202. 
Love's  Mistress  or  the  Queen's  Masque.     Thomas  Hey  wood,  1636. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  69 

Cupid  and  Psyche  performed  at  St.  Paul's.     Before  1582.     See  Stephen 
Gosson  in  Plays  Confuted,  quoted  by  J.  Payne  Collier  in  Annals 
of  the  Stage,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  274. 
9.  Dido. 

Dido  and  Aeneas:  Henslowe,  Vol.  II,  p.  189  and  Schelling:  Elizabethan 
Drama.     Vol.  II,  p.  18,  note. 
Dido  and  Mneas:    Hazlitt's  Manual,  p.  64. 

Dido.     Latin  Tragedy  (acted  at  Cambridge,  1564).     Nichols'  Eliza- 
beth, Vol.  I,  p.  186. 

Dido:   Gager,  Oxford,  1583.     Reprinted  in  Dyce's  Marlowe.     Appen- 
dix. 

Dido:    Queen  of  Carthage.     Marlowe  and  Nash,  1594.     Acted,  1591. 

10.  Hercules. 

Hercules  Fur  ens.     Trans.  Jasper  Hey  wood,  1561. 
Hercules  CEtceus.     Trans.  J.  Studley. 

Both  plays  in  Seneca  his  Tenne  Tragedies  Translated  into  English, 

1 58 1.  Repr.  Spenser  Society,  1887. 
The  Silver  Age:  Thomas  Heywood,  1613. 
The  Brazen  Age.     Thomas  Heywood. 

Both  acted  at  The  Rose,  1595. 
The  Birth  of  Hercules.     Edited  by  M.  W.  Wallace,  1903.     Tr.  Plautu«' 

Amphitruo,  1610. 
The  Twelve  Labours  of  Hercules:    1592.      See  Grosart's  Robert  Greene, 

Vol.  XII,  pp.  131,  132. 

11.  Hippolytus:  Tr.  J.  Studley.     Seneca  his  Tenne  Tragedies  Translated  into 

English,  1581.     Spenser  Society,  1887. 

12.  The  Hunting  of  Cupid.     Peele.     Fragment.     Stationers'  Registers,  July 

1 591.     Also  Bullen's  Peele,  Vol.  I,  p.  xxviii. 

13.  Iphigenia. 

Iphigenia  in  Aulis.  1576-77,  Tr.  Lady  J.  Lumley.     Brit.  Museum  MS. 

Royal  15a,  IX,  f.  63.     See  Schelling:    Elizabethan  Drama,  Vol, 

II,  p.  576. 
Iphigenia.     Trag.  1571.     Revels  Account,  p.  13. 
Iphigenia.     Trans.  Peele  at  Oxford,  c.  1576.     Schelling:   Elizabethan 

Drama,  Vol.  II,  p.  576. 

14.  The  Judgment  of  Paris. 

The  Arraignment  of  Paris:   George  Peele,  1584. 
The  Triumph  of  Beauty.     J.  Shirley,  1646.     Presented  1640. 
Deorum  Judicium:   Thomas  Heywood,  1637.     Pleasant  Dialogues  and 
Drammas.     Possibly  one  of  Five  Plays  in  One,  1597. 

15.  Jupiter  and  Io. 

Pleasant  Dialogues   and   Drammas:    Thomas   Heywood,    1637.     See 
Henslowe  II,  p.  183. 

16.  Juno  and  Diana:    Calendar  Slate  Papers,  Spanish,  1558-1567,  p.  404. 

17.  Leander:  Latin.     Acted  at  Cambridge,  1598,  MS.  copies  in  the  Univers- 

ity and  Emmanuel  College  libraries  at  Cambridge  and  at  the 


70  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

British    Museum.     MS.    Sloane,    1762.     Also    in    the    Bodleian. 
See  Schelling:    The  Elizabethan  Drama,  Vol.  II,  p.  581. 

18.  Orestes. 

Orestes:  Thomas  Goffe,  1623. 

Orestes   Furies:  Thomas   Dekker,    1599.     Henslowe,   Vol.    II,   p.   202. 
Horestes:  J.  Pickering,  1567.     Printed  by  Brandt,  1898. 
Orestes:  1567,  Harleian  MS.,  146.     See  Schelling:   Elizabethan  Drama, 
Vol.  I,  p.  118  n.     (Perhaps  the  same  as  Horestes.) 

19.  Perseus  and  Andromeda.     Acted  at  Court  by  the  Merchant  Taylor's 

boys,    1574.     Hazlitt's    Manual. 

20.  Phaeton. 

Phaeton,  1598.     Henslowe,  Vol.  II,  p.  190  and  Fleay,  Vol.  I,  p.  122. 
The  Sun's  Darling:  Ford  and  Dekker,  1656.     Licensed  1624. 

21.  Rape  of  Lucrece:  Thomas  Heywood,  c.  1605.     See  Fleay,  Vol.  I,  p.  292. 

22.  Thebes. 

Thebais.     Tr.  Newton.     Seneca  his  Tenne  Tragedies,  1581.     Spenser 

Society,  1887. 
Timoclea  at  the  Siege  of  Thebes.     Alexander.     "Showen  at  Hampton 

Coorte  before  her  Majestie"  by  the  boys  of  the  Merchant  Taylor's 

School.     Hazlitt's  Manual,  p.  229. 

23.  The  Lives  of  Jupiter  and  Saturn,  with  the  Deifying  of  the  Heathen  Gods. 

The  Golden  Age:  Thomas  Heywood,  161 1.  Acted  1595.  Henslowe 
II,  p.  175. 

24.  Medea. 

Medea:  Trans.  J.  Studley.  Seneca  his  Tenne  Tragedies,  1581.  Spen- 
ser Society,  1887. 

Medea.  Tr.  of  Euripides  into  Latin.  George  Buchanan,  c.  1540. 
See  Schelling:  Elizabethan  Drama,  Vol.  I,  p.  34. 

25.  Narcissus:    a  Twelfth   Night  Merriment.     Oxford,    1602.     Ed.   M.   L. 

Lee,  1893. 

26.  (Edipus. 

CEdipus.     Tr.    Neville,    1560.     Seneca    his    Tenne    Tragedies,    158 1. 

Spenser  Society,  1887. 
CEdipus.    Tr.     Gager.     Oxford,     1580.     Brit.     Museum,     MS.     See 

Schelling,  Elizabethan  Drama:   Vol.  II,  p.  594. 

27.  Thyestes:    Trans.  Jasper  Heywood,  1560.     Seneca  his  Tenne  Tragedies, 

1 58 1.     Spenser  Society,  1887. 

28.  Troy. 

Troas:  Trans.  Jasper  Heywood.  Seneca  his  Tenne  Tragedies,  1581. 
Spenser  Society,  1887. 

Troy's  Revenge  with  the  Tragedy  of  Polyphemus:  Chettle,  1599.  Hen- 
slowe, Vol.  II,  p.  201. 

Troy.  1596,  Henslowe,  Vol.  II,  p.  180.  Probably  Hey  wood's  Iron 
Age,  Parts  I  and  II. 

29.  Ulysses  Redux:  Gager.     Tragedy.     Jahrbuch,  XXXIV,  p.  238. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  71 


Plays  With  Classic  Titles  Between  1642  and  1700. 

1.  Achilles,  or  Iphigenia  in  Aulis.     Acted  1699.     Translation  from  Racine. 

4°  1700.     Abel  Boyer. 

2.  Amphytrion   or   the    Two   Sosias:    John    Dryden.     40  1690.     Music   by 

H.  Purcell. 

3.  Andromache.     Trans,  from  Racine.     1675.     (Term  Catalogue)     Partly 

by  Crowne. 

4.  Ariadne  or  the  Marriage  of  Bacchus.     1674.     Trans,  from  the  French  by 

Monsieur  Grabut,  "Master  of  his  Majesty's  Musicke. " 

5.  Calisto;  or  the  Chaste  Nymph.     Masque.     J.  Crowne.     40  1675. 

6.  Circe;  A  Tragedy.     1677.     (Term  Catalogue)     Mr.  Charles  Davenant. 

Music  of  the  first  performance  by  J.  Banister;  later,  music  by  H. 
Purcell. 

7.  Cynthia  and  Endimion  or  the  Love  of  the  Deities.     T.  D'Urfey.     40  1697. 

Songs  by  Daniel  Purcell. 

8.  Electra:  A  Tragedy  by  Christopher  Wase.     Translation  of  the  Greek  of 

Sophocles.     1649.     See  Lowndes'  Bibliographers'  Manual. 

9.  Hippolytus.     Trans,  of  Seneca  in  rhyme.     John  Priestwich.     165 1. 

10.  Hercules.  A  Masque  set  to  music  by  Mr.  John  Eccles.  The  Third  Act 
of  The  Novelty:  Every  Act  a  Play,  written  by  Mr.  Motteux  and 
other  hands.     4°  1697. 

n.  Hero  and  Leander ;  their  Tragedy.  Robert  Stapleton.  Nov.  1668.  Term 
Catalogue. 

12.  Horace. 

Hor alius:  A  Tragedy  by  Sir  William  Lower,  Knight.     40  1656. 
Horace:  A  Tragedy  by  Charles  Cotton.     40  1671.     Term  Catalogue. 

Translation   of   Corneille   with   additional   songs  and   choruses. 
Horace:  Trans,   from  Corneille  by  the   "Matchless  Orinda, "   Mrs. 

Katharine  Phillips.     Fifth  act  by  Sir  John  Denham,  1668. 

13.  Iphigenia.     John  Dennis.     1699.     See  Genest:    History  of  the  English 

Stage,  Vol.  II,  pp.  173,  174, 

14.  Loves  of  Mars  and  Venus:   A  play  set  to  music  in  three  acts.     P.  Mot- 

teux.    40  1696.     Music  by  Godfrey  Finger  and  J.  Eccles. 

15.  CEdipus,  King  of  Thebes:   Dryden  and  Nathaniel  Lee.     40  1696.     Mu  ic 

by  H.  Purcell. 

16.  Nuptials  of  Peleus  and  Th  tis.     Masque  Trans,  by  James  Howell.     1654. 

See  Crowne1  s  Works:    Maidment  and  Logan,  Vol.  I,  p.  223. 

17.  Medea  and  Jason. 

Phaeton  or  the  Fatal  Divorce:    Charles  Gildon,  a  Tragedy.     40  1696. 
Songs  by  Daniel  Purcell. 

18.  Psyche. 

Psyche:     Shadwell.     40    1675.     Opera.     Music    by    Matthew    Locke 

and  Gio.  Baptista  Draghi. 
Psyche  Debauch' d.     Thomas  D'Urfey. 


72  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

19.  Thyestes.     A  Tragedy.     J.  Crowne.     40  1681. 

Thyestes.  A  Tragedy  translated  from  Seneca  to  which  is  added  Mock 
Thystes,  a  Burlesque.  1674.  John  Wright.  See  Dramatic 
Works  of  J.  Crowne,  Vol.  II,  Preface,  p.  89;  also  Biographia  Dra- 
matical  Baker.     Vol.  Ill,  p.  337. 

20.  Troy.     The  Destruction  of  Troy.     A  Tragedy  acted  by  the  Duke's  Ser- 

vants.    Written  by  John   Banks.     40   1679.     Term   Catalogue. 

21.  Venus  and  Adonis.     A  burlesque  masque  by  Samuel  Holland.     Included 

in  his  volume  entitled  "Don  Zara  del  Fogo. "     1656.     Hazlitt's 
Manual. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  73 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  following  list  aims  to  give  the  full  titles  of  the  books  quoted  in  the  pre- 
ceding pages.  The  place  of  publication  is  London,  unless  otherwise  indi- 
cated. 

I.  Texts 

Adlington,  William.     The  Marriage  of  Cupid  and  Psyche.     Reprint  of  1566 

Edition.  With  a  Discourse  on  the  Fable,  by  Andrew  Lang.  Oxford,  1887. 
Apuleius  Madaurensis.     The  Fable  of  Cupid  and  Psyche;  to  which  are  added 

a  Poetical  Paraphrase  on  the  Speech  of  Diotima  in  the  Banquet  of  Plato. 

Translation  by  Thomas  Taylor,  1795. 
Apuleius.     The    Works    of   Apuleius.     Containing    a    New    Translation,  to 

which  are  added  a  Metrical  Version  of  Cupid  and  Psyche  and  Mrs.  Tighe's 

Psyche.     Bohn  edition.     1853. 
Beaumont,  Joseph.     The  Complete  Poems   of   Dr.  Joseph  Beaumont.      For 

the  first  time  collected  and  edited  with  memorial-introduction,  notes,  etc., 

by  A.  B.  Grosart.     1880. 
Bridges,  Robert.     Eros  and  Psyche.     1894. 
Congreve,  William.     The  Works  of  Mr.  William  Congreve  in  Two  Volumes, 

consisting  of  his  Plays  and  Poems.     The  Third  Edition.     Revis'd  by  the 

Author.     Printed  for  Jacob  Tonson.     1719-20. 
Crowne,  John.     The  Dramatic  Works  of  John  Crowne,  with  prefatory  Mem- 
oir and  Notes.     James  Maidment  and  W.  H.  Logan.     1873. 
Cupid  and  Psyche.     The   Loves  of    Cupid  and  Psyche.     Verse    and   Prose 

from  the  French  of  La  Fontaine  by  Mr.  Lockman.     Amsterdam.     1744. 
Cupid  and  Psyche.     Cupid  and  Psyche  and  other  Tales  from  the  Golden  Ass 

of  Apuleius  by  W.  H.  D.  Rouse.     1904. 
Cupid  and  Psyche.     The  Story  of  Cupid  and  Psyche,  done  into  English  from 

the  Latin  of  Lucius  Apuleius  by  Walter  Pater.     Illustrated  with  drawings 

by  Raphael.     New  York,  1901. 
Darwin,   Erasmus.     The  Poetical   Works  of  Erasmus  Darwin.    1806. 
Davenant,    Sir   William.       Dramatic    Works,   with   prefatory   memoir  and 

notes:   Maidment  and  Logan.     1872-74. 
Davenant,  Sir  William.     Love  and  Honour  and  The  Siege  of  Rhodes.     Edited 

by  J.  W.  Tupper.     Belles-Lettres  Series.     Boston.     1909. 
Dekker,    Thomas.     The  Dramatic    Works   of   Thomas   Dekker.     Edited   by 

Pearson.     1873. 
Dennis,  John.     Select  Works  of  Mr.  John  Dennis.     1721. 


74  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

Dickenson,  John.  Prose  and  Verse  by  J.  D.  The  Shepherd's  Complaint, 
Arisbas,  etc.  1594,  Greene  in  Conceipt,  etc.  1598.  Edited  with  an  intro- 
duction, notes,  etc.,  by  A.  B.  Grosart.     Manchester,  1878. 

Dryden,  John.  Essays  of  John  Dry  den.  Edited  by  W.  P.  Ker.  Oxford, 
1900. 

Dryden,  John.  Works  of  John  Dryden.  Edited  by  Sir  Walter  Scott.  Re- 
vised and  corrected  by  George  Saintsbury.     Edinburgh,  1 882-1 893. 

Dryden,    John.     Dramatick   works.     Edited   by   William   Congreve.     1725. 

Eros  and  Psyche.     Paul  Carus.     1900. 

Evelyn,  John.  The  Diary  and  Correspondence  of  John  Evelyn.  Edited 
from  the  original  MSS.  by  William  Bray,  with  a  life  of  the  author  and  a 
new  preface  by  Henry  B.  Wheatley.     1906. 

Ford,  John.  The  Works  of  John  Ford.  Notes  by  Wm.  Gifford.  Edited 
by  Dyce.     1869. 

Gildon,    Charles.     Phaeton;   or   the   Fatal   Divorce.     A   Tragedy.     40    1698. 

Golding,  Arthur.  A  Tragedie  of  Abraham's  Sacrifice,  written  in  the  French 
by  Theodore  Beza  and  translated  into  English  by  Arthur  Golding.  Edited 
by  Malcolm  W.  Wallace.     University  of  Toronto  Studies.     1906. 

Golding,  Arthur.  Shakespeare's  Ovid,  being  Arthur  Golding's  Translation 
of  the  Metamorphoses.     Edited  by  W.  H.  D.  Rouse.     1904. 

Greene,  Robert.  Complete  Works  in  Prose  and  Verse.  Huth  Library, 
edited  by  A.  B.  Grosart.     1881-83. 

Haslewood,  Joseph.  Ancient  Critical  Essays  upon  English  Poets  and  Poesy. 
1815. 

Henslowe's  Diary  edited  by  W.  W.  Greg.     1904-1908. 

Heroides.  P.  Ovidi  Nasonis  Heroides,  with  the  Greek  translation  of  Planu- 
des,  edited  by  Arthur  Palmer.     Oxford.     1898. 

Heywood,  Thomas.  An  Apology  for  Actors.  Reprinted  for  the  Shakespeare 
Society.     1841. 

Heywood,  Thomas.  Love's  Mistress  or  The  Queen's  Masque.  40  1636  and 
1640. 

Heywood,  Thomas.  The  Dramatic  Works  of  Thomas  Heywood.  Edited 
by  Pearson.     1874. 

Iphigenia  at  Aulus.  Translated  by  Lady  Lumley.  Malone  Society  Re- 
prints.    1909.     Vol.  2. 

Lord  Mayors'  Pageants.  Frederick  W.  Fairholt.  A  collection  towards  a 
history  of  these  annual  celebrations  with  specimens  of  the  Descriptive 
Pamphlets  published  by  the  City  Poets.  Printed  for  the  Percy  Society. 
1893. 

Lucian.     The  Works  of  Lucian  from  the  Greek  by  Thomas  Francklin.     1781. 

Lyly.  The  Complete  Works.  Now  for  the  first  time  collected  and  edited 
from  the  earliest  quartos,  with  Life,  Bibliography,  Essays,  Notes,  and 
Index  by  R.  Warwick  Bond.     Oxford.     1902. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  75 

Moliere.  CEuvres  Completes.  Eugene  Despois  et  Paul  Mesnard.  Paris. 
1873-1900. 

Morris,  Lewis.     The  Epic  of  Hades.     Boston.     1882. 

Morris,  William.     The  Earthly  Paradise.     1905. 

Motteux.  The  Loves  of  Mars  and  Venus.  A  Play  set  to  music,  written  by- 
Mr.  Motteux.     40  1697. 

Motteux.  Novelty.  Every  Act  a  Play,  being  a  short  pastoral  Comedy, 
Masque,  Tragedy,  and  Farce,  after  the  Italian  manner,  as  it  is  acted  at 
the  New  Theatre  in  Little  Lincolns  Inns  Fields  by  his  Majesty's  Servants. 
Written  by  Mr.  Motteux  and  other  hands.     40  1697. 

Narcissus.  A  Twelfe  Night  Merriment  played  by  Youths  of  the  Parish  at 
the  college  of  S.  John  the  Baptist  in  Oxford,  A.  D.  1602.  Now  first  edited 
from  a  Bodleian  MS.  by  Margaret  L.  Lee.     Oxford.     1893. 

Nash,  Thomas.  The  Complete  Works  of  Thomas  Nash.  Huth  Library.  Ed- 
ited by  A.  B.  Grosart.     1885. 

Parthenii  Nicaeensis.  Narrationum  Amatoriarum  Libellus.  Chr.  G.  Hayne. 
Gottingen.     1798. 

Peele,  George.  The  Arraignment  of  Paris.  Edited  by  H.  O.  Smeaton.  1905. 
Temple  Dramatists. 

Peele,  George.  Arraignment  of  Paris.  Ed.  Harold  H.  Child.  Malone  Society 
Reprints.     19 10. 

Peele,  George.  Plays  and  Poems.  Morley's  Universal  Library.  Ed.  by  Henry 
Morley.     1887. 

Peele,  George.     The  Works  of  George  Peele.     Ed.  by  A.  H.  Bullen.     1888. 

Pepys,  Samuel.  The  Diary  of  Samuel  Pepys.  Ed.  by  Henry  B.  Wheatley. 
1899. 

Progresses  and  Public  Processions  of  Queen  Elizabeth.     J.  Nicholas.     1823. 

Puttenham,  George.  The  Art  of  English  Poesy  (1589).  Reprinted  by  Arber. 
1869.     Printed  also  in  Haslewood,  Ancient  Critical  Essays,   1815. 

Register  of  the  Company  of  Stationers  of  London.  1554-1640.  Transcript 
by  Arber.     1875-94. 

Revels  at  Court.  Extracts  from  the  accounts  of  Revels  at  Court  in  the  Reigns 
of  Elizabeth  and  King  James  I.  Ed.  by  P.  Cunningham.  Shakespeare 
Society.     1842. 

Sandys,  George.  Ovid's  Metamorphosis  EnglisVd,  Mythologiz'd  and  Rep- 
resented in  Figures.     Oxford.     1632. 

Shadwell,  Thomas.  Psyche:  a  Tragedy,  acted  at  the  Duke's  Theatre.  40 
1720. 

Shakespeare,  William.  The  Plays  and  Poems  of  William  Shakespeare  and  an 
Enlarged  History  of  the  Stage.     Edward  Malone.      1821. 

Shirley,  James.  Dramatic  Works  and  Poems,  with  notes  by  William  Gifford. 
Edited  by  Alexander  Dyce.     1833. 


76  Classic  Myth  in  the  Poetic  Drama 

Term  Catalogue.  1668-1709,  with  a  number  for  Easter  Term,  171 1  A.  D. 
A  Contemporary  Bibliography  of  English  Literature  in  the  reigns  of  Charles 
II,  James  II,  William  and  Mary,  and  Anne,  from  the  Quarterly  Lists  of 
New  Books  and  Reprints  issued  by  the  Book-sellers,  etc.,  of  London. 
Edited  by  Arber.     1903. 

Webbe,  William.  A  Discourse  of  English  Poetry.  1586.  Reprinted  by 
Arber.     1870. 

Wright,  James.  Historia  Histrionica.  Dodsley's  Old  Plays.  Vol.  XV. 
1876. 

II.     General  Works  and  Special  Studies 

Baker.  Biographia  Dramatica.  David  Erskine  Baker  and  David  Reed. 
1812. 

Baker,  George  Pierce.     The  Development  of  Shakespeare  as  a  Dramatist.     1907. 

Bartsche,  Karl.  Albrecht  von  Halberstadt  und  Ovid  im  Mittelalter.  Leipzig 
1849. 

Bayle,  Peter.  The  Dictionary,  Historical  and  Critical.  Second  Edition. 
1734. 

Brown,  F.  C.     Elkanah  Settle:    his  Life  and  Works.     Chicago.     1910. 

Charlanne,  L.  V Influence  Frangaise  en  Angleterre  au  XVII  e  Siecle.  Paris. 
1906. 

Chase,  Nathaniel  Lewis.     The  English  Heroic  Play.     New  York.     1903. 

demons,  W.  H.  The  Sources  of  Timon  of  Athens.  Princeton  University 
Bulletin.     Vol.  XV. 

Collier,  J.  P.  The  History  of  English  Dramatic  Poetry  to  the  Time  of  Shakes- 
peare: and  Annals  of  the  Stage  to  the  Restoration.  1831.  New  Edition. 
1879. 

Collins,  J.  Churton.     Studies  in  Shakespeare.     New  York.     1904. 

Cox,  Sir  George  W.     The  Mythology  of  the  Aryan  Nations.     1870. 

Cummings,  William  H.  Purcell.  The  Great  Musicians.  Edited  by  Fran- 
cis Hueffer.     1881. 

Cunliffe,  John  W.     The  Influence  of  Seneca  on  Elizabethan  Tragedy.     1893. 

Downes,  John.  Roscius  Anglicanus  or  an  Historical  Review  of  the  Stage 
from  1660  to  1706.     1886. 

Fiske,  John.     Myths  and  Myth-Makers.     Boston.     1873. 

Fleay,  F.  G.     A  Biographical  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama.     2  Vols.     1891. 

Fleay,  F.  G.     A  Chronicle  History  of  the  London  Stage  (1559- 1642).     1890. 

Fleay,  F.  G.  On  the  Authorship  of  Timon  of  Athens,  followed  by  an  edition 
of  the  Life  of  Timon  of  Athens.     Shakespeare  Society.     1874. 

Fletcher,  J.  B.  Precieuses  at  the  Court  of  Charles  I  in  Journal  of  Compara- 
tive Literature.     Vol.  I,  pp.  120-153.     New  York.     1903. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  77 

Genest,  John.     Some  Account  of  the  English  Stage  from  the  Restoration  in 

1660  to  1832.     Bath.     1832. 
Gosse,  Edmund.     Life  of  William  Congreve.     1888. 
Gosse,  Edmund.      Seventeenth   Century  Studies.     2nd  edition.     New  York. 

1897. 
Greg,  W.  W.     A  List  of  Masques,  Pageants,  etc.  supplementary  to  a  List  of 

English  Plays.     1902. 
Grove's  Dictionary  of  Music  and  Musicians.     Edited  by  J.  A.  Fullmer  Mait- 

land.     1907. 
Halliwell,  James  O.     Dictionary  of  Old  English  Plays  from  the  earliest  times 

to  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,     i860. 
Hazlitt,  William  Carew.     A  Manual  for  the  Collector  and  Amatuer  of  Old 

English  Plays.     1892. 
Jacob,  Franz.     Die  Fabel  von  Atreus  und  Thyestes  in  den  Wichtigsten  Trag- 

odien  der  Englischen,  Franzosischen  und  Italienischen  Literatur.     Leip- 
zig.    1907. 
Koeppel,  Emil.     Quellen  Studien  zu  den  Dramen  George  Chapman's,  Philip 

Massinger's  and  John  Ford's.     1897. 
Langbaine,   Gerard.     Some  Account  of  English  Dramatick  Poets.     Oxford. 

1691. 
Lavaix,  H.     La  Musique  frangaise.     Paris.     1891. 
Lowe:   The  Life  and  Times  of  the  Excellent  and  Renowned  Actor,  Thomas 

Betterton.     With  such  Notices  of  the  Stage  and  English  History  before 

and  after  the  Restoration,  as  serve  generally  to  illustrate  the  subject.     1888. 
Miles,  Dudley  Howe.     The  Influence  of  Molilre  on  Restoration  Comedy.     New 

York.     1 9 10. 
Muller,  Adolf.     Uber  die  Quellen  aus  denen  Shakespeare  Timon  von  A  then 

entnommen  hat.     Jena  Dissertation.     1873. 
Parry,  C.  Hubert  H.     The  Oxford  History  of  Music.     1902. 
Renan,    Ernest.     Histoire   General   des   Langues   Semitiques.     Paris.     1863. 
Schelling,   Felix   E.     Elizabethan   Drama   (1558-1642).     A   History  of  the 

Drama  in  England  from  the  Accession  of  Queen  Elizabeth  to  the  Closing 

of  the  Theatres,  to  which  is  prefix'd  a  Resume  of  the  Earlier  Drama  from 

its  beginning.     Boston.     1908. 
Schelling,  Felix  E.     The  Life  and  Writings  of  George  Gascoigne.     1893. 
Schelling,  Felix  E.     Restoration  Drama  in  The  Cambridge  History  of  English 

Literature.     Vol.  VIII. 
Stumfall,  Balthasar.     Das  Mdrchen  von  Amor  und  Psyche  in  seinem  Fortle- 

ben  in  der  Franzosischen,  Italienischen  und  Spanischen  Literatur  bis  sum 

18  Jahrenhundert.     Leipzig.     1907. 
Tschischwitz,  Benno.     Timon  von  A  then  ein  Kritische  Versuch,  in  the  Jahr- 

buch.     Vol.  IV. 


78  Classic  Myth  of  the  Poetic  Drama 

Tupper,  James  W.  The  Relation  of  the  Heroic  Play  to  the  Romance  of  Beau- 
mont and  Fletcher  in  Publications  of  the  Modern  Language  Association. 
XX.     Baltimore.     1905. 

Upham,  Alfred  Horatio.  The  French  Influence  in  English  Literature,  from  the 
accession  of  Elizabeth  to  the  Restoration.     New  York.     1908. 

Ward,  A.  W.  A  History  of  English  Dramatic  Literature  to  the  Death  of  Queen 
Anne.     London  and  New  York.     1899. 

Warton,  Thomas.  The  History  of  English  Poetry  from  the  12th  to  the  close 
of  the  1 6th  Century.     Edited  by  W.  Carew  Hazlitt.     1871. 

Wright  Ernest  Hunter.  The  Authorship  of  Timon  of  Athens.  New  York. 
1910. 


Of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth  79 


INDEX 


Actceon  and  Diana,  9,  68 

Achilles  or  Iphigenia  in  Aulis,  description  of,  34;  mentioned,  71 

Adlington,  William,  his  translation  of  Cupid  and  Psyche,  18;  first  English 

trans,  of  Apuleius,  51 
Agamemnon,  tragedies,  of  9,  68;  trans,  of  Seneca's  Agamemnon,  19 
Ajax,  plays  on,  9,  68 
Alcceon,  68 

Allegory,  in  England,  5;  distinction  between  allegory  and  mythology,  6 
Amphitruo,  of  Plautus,  8 
Amphytrion,  Dryden  and  Lee,  71 

Andromache,  tragedy  of,  translation  from  Racine,  34,  71 
Antigone,  tragedies  of,  9,  68 
Apollo  and  Daphne,  9;  68 
Apuleius,  the  sources  of  his  Golden  Ass,  17;  Shadwell's  allusion  to,  35;  his 

life  and  work,  49,  50;  first  English  trans.,  51;  part  taken  by  Heywood, 

according  to  Fleay,  52;  the  source  of  Love's  Mistress,  53-54;  Taylor's 

translations,  57;  Bohn's  translation,  57;  the  most  beautiful,  that  of 

Pater,  58 
Antigone,  plays  on,  9,  68 

Ariadne,  10;  Ariadne  or  the  Marriage  of  Bacchus,  a  miserable  play,  33;  71 
Arraignment  of  Paris,  The,  poetic  drama,  6;  45;  39;  description  of,  42-45;  69 
Atalanta,  plays  on,  9,  68 
Bayle,  Peter,  His  Dictionary  49 
Calderon,  his  Autos  Sacramentales,  50,  51 
Chapel  Royal,  Children  of,  The,  6,  13 
Coleridge,  Samuel  Taylor,  66 
Comu ',  myth  of  Cupid  and  Psyche  there,  58 
Congreve,  William,  his  Judgment  of  Paris  described,  46,  47. 
Corneille,  three  translations  of  his  Horace  in  English,  28,  33;  mentioned, 

38;  his  part  in  Moliere's  Psyche,  51 
Crowne,  John,  his  Calisto  or  the  Chaste  Nymph,  35,  71;  description  of  him, 

35;  his  Andromache,  34,  71;  his  Thyestes,  34,  37,  72. 
Cupid,  in  Love's  Mistress,  53,  55;  in  Beaumont's  Psyche,  59;  inconsistency  in 

conception  of,  56;  Heywood's  conception  of,  56;  in  The  Sun's  Darling, 

64 
Cupid  and  Psyche,  theme  for  Elizabethan  plays,  9;  Heywood's  use  of  sources, 

17;  Adlington's  translation,  Cupid  and  Psyche  played  at  Paul's,   18; 


80  Index 

lost  play,  18-19;  perhaps  in  Heywood's  Five  Plays  in  One,  19;  the  myth 
traced,  49-60;  myth  in  Italy  and  Spain,  50-51;  in  France,  51;  in  Eng 
land,  51;  Heywood's  use  of,  55-56;  translations  of,  57-58;  interpreta- 
tions of,  58-60;  plays  on,  68,  69 

Cypria,  The,  no  longer  extant,  40;  description  of,  40,  41 

Daniel,  Samuel,  his  entertainments,  5;  his  poem  on  Ulysses  and  the  Syrens, 
11 

Darwin,  Erasmus,  the  Cupid  and  Psyche  myth  in  his  Botanic  Garden,  59 

Davenant,  Dr.  Charles,  his  Circe,  36,  71;  manager  of  the  Duke's  Company, 
son  of  Sir  William  Davenant,  36 

Davenant,  Sir  William,  poet-laureate,  25;  his  Entertainment  at  Rutland 
House,  25,  26;  his  Siege  of  Rhodes,  26,  28-29;  ms  Cruelties  of  the  Spaniards 
in  Peru  and  History  of  Sir  Frances  Drake,  26;  license  to  open  a  play  house, 
27;  description  of  opera  compared  with  Dryden's,  30;  and  the  Duke's 
Theatre,  31 

Dekker,  Thomas,  author  of  The  Sun's  Darling,  7;  a  lost  play  of,  18;  lost 
play  on  Phaeton  myth,  62,  63;  The  Sun's  Darling  described,  61-66;  his 
Old  Fortunatus,  64,  65;  his  part  in  the  songs  of  Lyly's  plays,  65-66;  his 
Orestes  Furies,  70 

Dennis,  John,  his  criticism  of  musical  drama,  32;  his  Iphigenia,  71 

Dickenson,  John,  author  of  Prose  and  Verse,  15;  his  Greene  in  Conceipt,  47, 
48;  his  Strife  of  Love  and  Beauty,  47-48 

Dido,  plays  on  8,  69;  Wm.  Gager's,  13;  Queen  of  Carthage,  13;  and  JEneas, 
by  Purcell,  an  isolated  example  of  true  English  opera,  30 

Dryden,  John,  his  definition  of  music  drama,  30;  his  Prologue  at  opening  of 
New  Theatre,  31;  his  King  Arthur,  music  drama,  31;  should  have  been 
chosen  for  masque,  35;  Prologue  for  Circe,  36;  his  Amphytrion,  38,  70; 
his  Oedipus,  38,  71 

D'Urfey,  Thomas,  his  Cynthia  and  Endimion,  36,  37,  71;  his  Psyche 
Debauch' d,  33,  71 

Electa,  Wase's  translation,  27-28,  71 

Epic  Story,  source  of  plays  on  classic  themes,  12;  source  of  Dico  plays,  13 

Euripides,  37,  66 

Evelyn,  John,  his  kindness  to  Wase,  28;  his  description  of  Orinda's  Horace, 

33 
Faerie  Queene,  The,  5,  62 
Fleay,  F.  G.,  his  conjecture  about  Dido  and  JEneas,  8,  9;  about  Dido,  Queen 

of  Carthage,  13;  about  Cupid  and  Psyche,  19;  about  Love's  Mistress, 

52;  about   Dekker's  lost  Phaeton,  63 
Ford,  John,  his  part  in  the  Sun's  Darling,  7,  61,  64 
Gager,  William,  his  Latin  Tragedy,  8;  his  Meleager,  12;  his  Ulysses  Redux, 

11,  70 
Genesst,  John,  his  Account  of  the  English  Stage,  26,  34,  36,  37 
Gildon,  Charles,  his  criticism  of  opera,  32;  his  Phaeton  or  the  Fatal  Divorce , 

32,  37-38,  71 
Golden  Ass,  The,  of  Apuleuis,  17, 18, 49-50;  or  Cupid  and  Psyche  a  lost  play,  18, 


Index  8i 

68 ;  the  Metamorphoses  of  Ovid  a  greater  influence  upon  drama  than  The 
Golden  Ass,  19;  Shadwell's  allusion  to,  35;  source  of  the  mythology  in 
Love's  Mistress,  54;  variations  from,  in  Love's  Mistress,  55;  Rouse's 
Cupid  and  Psyche  and  other  Tales  from,  58 

Golding,  Arthur,  first  translator  of  Ovid's  Metamorphoses,  his  translation 
of  A  Tragedie  of  Abraham's  Sacrifice,  19;  his  friends,  translations  of 
Caesar  and  Seneca,  20;  his  original  work,  20;  description  of  his  transla- 
tion, his  Puritanism,  21;  influence  of  his  Metamorphoses,  22-24 

Gosse,  Edmund,  his  theory  concerning  dramatic  verse,  29;  his  description 
of  Orinda,  33~34 

Gosson,   Stephen,   his  Plays  Confuted,   18 

Gower,   his   Confessio  Amantis,   11 

Greene,  Robert,  his  Groatsworth  of  Wit,  8;  his  use  of  myth,  10;  Dickenson's 
debt  to  him,  15,  16,  48;  his  Menaphon  mentioned,  19 

Hazlitt,  William  Carew,  11;  47 

Henslowe,  Phillip,  8 

Hercules,  plays  on,  8,  69;  or  The  Loves  of  Mars  and  Venus,  36;  Masque  set  to 
Music,  71 

Hey  wood,  Jasper,  his  Theystes,  his  Troas,  70 

Hey  wood,  Thomas,  his  Silver  and  Bronze  Ages,  8,  69;  his  allusion  to  the 
Golden  Fleece,  9;  his  Iron  Age,  9;  his  use  of  classic  myth,  10;  his  Pleas- 
ant Dialogues  and  Drammas,  14;  his  King  Ed.  I.,  14;  his  relation  to 
Lucian,  13-14;  15;  his  interest  in  Apuleius,  17;  his  Five  Plays  in  One, 
I9»  52»  53;  translation  of  Lucian,  41;  his  Love's  Mistress  and  Shirley's 
Triumph  of  Beauty,  46;  his  Love's  Mistress  described,  51-57;  his  treat- 
ment of  myth,  54;  conception  of  Cupid,  56;  his  Apollo  and  Daphne,  68; 
his  Love's  Mistress,  68;  his  Deorum  Judicium,  his  Jupiter  and  Io,  69; 
his  Golden  Age,  his  Rape  of  Lucrece,  70 

Hickes,  Francis,  his  translation  of  Lucian,  14-15 

Hippolytus,  of  Seneca,  translated  by  Priestwich,  28,  71;  translated  by  Stud- 
ley,  69 

Holinshed,  Ralph,  his  Chronicle,  10 

Horace,  Corneille's,  33;  plays  on,  71 

Howell,  James,  27 

Iliad,  The,  40 

Iphigenia,  tragedies  of,  9,  69;  by  John  Dennis,  71;  Achilles  or  Iphigenia  in 
Aulis,  71 

Jason,  as  subject  for  pageants,  5;  mentioned,  9,  10,  37,  46;  "the  story  of" 
mentioned  in  Stationers'  Register,  21 

Jones,  Inigo,  29,  52 

Jonson,  Ben,  his  masque,  5;  his  possible  connection  with  Dido  and  /Eneas, 
9;  his  use  of  history,  11 ;  influence  of  Seneca  upon  him,  12;  poet-laureate, 
25 ;  his  Lovers  Made  Men  set  to  music  by  Nicolo  Laniere,  29 

Landor,  Walter  Savage,  48,  62;  his  Death  of  Paris  and  Story  of  Corythos,  48; 
his  Gebir,  62 


82  Index 

Laniere,  Nicolo,  his  musical  setting  for  Jonson's  masque,  29 

Leander,  Robert  Stapleton's  play,  37,  71;  plays  on,  69,  70 

Love's  Mistress,  49;  described,  51-57;  its  sources,  53;  seen  by  Samuel  Pepys, 

57 

Lower,  Sir  William,  translator,  28,  33 

Lucian,  Heyvvood's  interest  in  him,  14;  the  Friendship  of,  14;  Dickenson's 
knowledge  of,  his  Timon,  15-16,  his  Lovkios  tj  "Ovos,  17;  his  Judg- 
ment of  Paris,  41 

Lulli,  Les  Fetes  de  V Amour  et  de  Bacchus,  29;  his  Cadmus  and  Hermione, 
the  first  true  French  opera,  29;  music  for  Psyche,  51 

Lyly,  John,  his  Court  plays,  5,  6;  the  songs  in  his  Campaspe,  65;  the  Blount 
edition  of  his  works,  65,  66 

Marlowe,  Christopher,  Dyce's  edition  of,  8;  his  Dido,  Queen  of  Carthage,  8, 
13,  69;  his  Tamburlaine,  43 

Marmion,  Shakerly,  verses  to  Heywood,  17;  his  Cupid  and  Psyche,  58-59 

Masque,  5,  6,  7;  Browne's  Inner  Temple  Masque,  10-11 ;  Masque  given  at  the 
middle  Temple,  25;  The  Nuptials  of  Peleus  and  Thebis,  27,  71;  16th  cen- 
tury masque,  29;  comparison  with  opera,  30-31;  of  Calisto  or  the  Chaste 
Nymph,  35,  71;  Hercules,  The  Loves  of  Mars  and  Venus,  Cynthia  and 
Endimion,  36,  71;  the  Queen's,  52-53,  68;  the  Sun's  Darling,  64,  70; 
the  Burlesque,  Venus  and  Adonis,  72 

Mayne,  Jasper,  his  translation  of  Lucian,  15 

Medea,  plays  on,  9,  70;  allusion  to,  37 

Meredith,  George,  his  Phaeton,  62 

Meres,  Francis,  10,  19 

Metamorphoses,  the,  of  Apuleius,  49;  of  Lucius  of  Patras,  17;  of  Ovid,  9,  10, 
19,  20,  23,  35-36,  61;  George  Sandy's  translation  of  Ovid's,  21-22 

Moliere,  his  Psyche,  35,  51,  57;  his  wit  not  transferred  to  England,  38;  his 
Misanthrope,  51 

Morris,  Lewis,  The  Epic  of  Hades,  60 

Morris,  William,  The  Earthly  Paradise,  48 

Myth,  Classic,  5,  32;  definition  of,  6;  its  popularity  in  Elizabethan  times, 
6;  and  Story,  7;  classic,  Thomas  Heywood's  use  of  it,  10,  54;  of  Cupid 
and  Psyche,  17,  48,  50,  51,  56,  57-60;  a  favorite  subject  for  musical 
drama,  32,  33;  of  (Enone,  39,  40  41,  48;  Iliad,  40;  of  the  Judgment  of 
Paris,  6,  45,  46;  of  Phaeton,  61,  62,  64;  classic,  as  a  subject  for  plays, 
66,  67 

Narcissus,  9;  the  Fable  of,  20,  21;  the  Twelfth  Night  Entertainment,  22-23, 
70 

Nash,  Thomas,  in  Dido,  Queen  of  Carthage,  8,  9,  13;  his  criticism  of  Stany- 
hurst's  Vergil,  13-14;  criticism  of  translations,  18 

Newton,  Thomas,  8,  12 

(Edipus,  tragedies  of,  9,  70;  by  Dryden  and  Lee,  71;  (Edipus  Tyrannus,  67 

(Enone,  Mentioned  by  Greene,  10;  Tennyson's,  39,  48;  tracing  of  the  myth 
of>  39-42;  in  The  Arraignment  of  Paris,  43-44;  does  not  appear  in  Triumph 


Index  83 


of  Beauty,  46;  Action  and  Diana,  with  the  Pastoral  Story  of  the  Nymph 
(Enone,  68 
Opera,  Davenant's  use  of  term,  26;  its  course  in  England,  28,  29;  Z?*do  a«d 
Mneas,  the  one  example  of  true  English  opera,  30;  Dryden's  definition, 

30,  31;  between  1642  and  1700,  seven  operas,  33;  of  Circe,  36 
Orestes,  plays  on,  9,  70 

Ovid,  his  Metamorphoses,  9,  10,  19,  61;  a  poem  of,  16;  translation  of  de  Arte 
Amandi,  20;  The  Pleasant  Fable  of  Hermaphroditus,  20;  of  Narcissus, 
20;  of  Jason,  21;  of  the  Heroides,  21,  41;  the  Metamorphoses  of  Sandys, 
21;  Caxton's  translation,  20;  source  of  Calisto  and  other  plays,  35-36; 
Parthenius,  his  contemporary,  41;  his  Heroides,  source  of  Arraignment 
of  Paris,  42;  the  Phaeton  story  told  by  Ovid,  61 
Pageants,  6,  7;  Lord  Mayors',  5,  9;  Peele's  for  1585,  42-43 
Paris,  6,  10,  43,  46,  47,  48;  The  Arraignment  of,  39,  43,  69; -as  he  appears 
in  the  Vedas,  40;  (Enone  and,  41 ;  Shirley's,  Judgment  of,  47;  Congreve's 
Judgment  of,  47;  the  Death  of,  48;  Mrs.  Bellamy's  Judgment  of,  47 
Peele,  George,  his  Arraignment  of  Paris,  6,  42-45,  69;  his  Turkish  Mahomet 
and  Hiren  the  Fair  Greek,  10;  as  city  Poet,  42,  43;  his  Old  Wives'  Tale, 
43;  his  Hunting  of  Cupid,  45,  46,  69;  his  Iphigenia,  69 
Phaer,  Thomas,  his  translation,  13,  14;  Puttenham's  mention  of,  19 
Phaeton,  or  the  Fatal  Divorce,  37,  71 ;  myth  of,  61-63,67;  play  by  Quinault,  62; 

The  Sun's  Darling  founded  on,  70 
Phillips,  Mrs.  Katharine,  the  Matchless  Orinda,  33-34;  71 
Psyche,  Shadwell's,  34-35;  71;  the  myth,  47,  48-49-50;  mentioned,  53,  54, 
55.  67;  described   by  Beaumont,  59;  by  Keats,  60;  by  other  English 
poets,  60 
Purcell,  Henry,  great  17th  century  musician,  30;   Dryden's  tributes  to  him, 

31,  38;  music  for  Circe,  36 

Racine,  his  Andromache  translated,  34,  71;  mentioned,  38 
Rich,  Barnabie,  14 

Sandys,  George,,  his  translation  of  Ovid,  21-22 

Seneca,  the  great  source  of  classic  tragedy,  12-13;  influence  upon  Elizabethan 
dramatists,  12;  his  Agamemnon,  19;  his  de  Beneficiis,  20;  his  Thyestes, 

34 

Shadwell,  Thomas,  his  Psyche,  31-32,  34-35,  57 

Shakespeare,  William,  10,  11,  12;  his  Timon,  15-17;  as  a  classical  scholar, 
16,  17,  23,  24;  his  Venus  and  Adonis,  23,  43;  his  Midsummer  Night's 
Dream,  62 

Shelley,  Percy  Bysshe,  his  Prometheus  Unbound,  67 

Shirley,  John,  his  Arcadia,  46;  his  Triumph  of  Beauty,  46-47 

Sophocles,  17,  66;  his    Electra,  27;  his  CEdipus  Tyrannus,  67 

Stanyhurst,  Richard,  his  translation,  13,  14,  24 

Sun's  Darling,  The,  example  of  poetic  drama,  6;  description  of,  63-65;  com- 
pared with  Old  Fortunatus,  65;  same  song  in  Campaspe,  66;  listed,  70 

Swinburne,  Algernon  Charles,  35 


84  Index 

Theatres,  The  King's,  27,  34;  The  Red  Bull,  25,  27;  the  Cockpit,  26,  63; 
Blackfriars,  26;  Whitefriars,  27;  Salisbury  Court,  27;  The  New  Theatre, 
31;  The  Duke's,  31,  34;  The  Phoenix,  52 

Theystes,  translation  of  John  Wright,  34;  Crowne's,  37;  plays  on,  72 

Timon  of  Athens,  Lucian's,  15;  Shakespeare's,  15-16 

Troilus  and  Cressida,  11 

Troy,  tragedies  of,  9,  70;  the  Roman  de  Troyes,  11 ;  The  Sege  of  Troye  appear- 
ing in  an  Oxford  manuscript,  14;  The  Destruction  of  Troy,  37,  72 

Turberville,  George,  translator,  21,  41-42 

Udine,  Ercole,  his  interpretation  of  the  Psyche  myth,  50 

Ulysses,  and  the  Syrens,  5;  and  Circe,  10-11;  plays  on,  70 

Wase,  Christopher,  translator  of  the  Electra  of  Sophocles,  27-28 

Webbe,  William,  his  Discourse  of  English  Poetry,  19 


THrs  S00KS&0^W^  DATE 

°AV    AND     TO     srnSOCENTSONrHEroNALTV 

«vwo^J°^.oo  ow   THE  I«J«««J 

REC'D  LO 


JW-9 


& 


~*ef*~1955-tfl — I 


LI>21-100m-8,.34 


MUM  BROS.  W$ 
§  smc«s£  -  H  Y    I I 


fp:fw^ 


smviian  jotim  on 


'e 


